25 years Precision Agriculture in Germany – a retrospective

It all started with the availability of Global Positioning Systems for civil services in 1988. In the same year variable rate applications of fertilizers were demonstrated in northern Germany and Denmark, which were globally the first of their kind and introduced a new era of agricultural production. The idea of Computer Aided Farming (CAF) was born. Only one year later the first yield maps were established. In 1992 at the Soil Specific Crop Management Workshop in Bloomington, Minnesota which later on signed with International Conference on Precision Agriculture the very first scientific presentation of a GPS assisted site-specific nutrient management was presented by the German pioneers. Since then the specialists developed for example innovative strategies for efficient soil and crop sampling, algorithms for the variable rate application of mineral and organic fertilizers providing a balanced nutrient input, and stationary remote sensing devices for the continuous surveillance of crops and soils. Though the tools are ready, the implementation of PA technologies has been only marginal. The reasons are complex data handling, weak system integration between manufacturers and an insufficiently high economic return of the investment which might change with full automation in agriculture.