Munak, Axel. 2006. Preface. Pp.

xvii-xviii in CIGR Handbook of Agricultural Engineering Volume VI

Information Technology. Edited by CIGR--The International Commission of Agricultural Engineering;
Volume Editor, Axel Munack. St. Joseph, Michigan, USA: ASABE. Copyright American Society of
Agricultural Engineers.

Preface
Section VII, the Information Systems Section, of CIGR, the International Commis-
sion of Agricultural Engineering, was founded in the year 2000 in Tsukuba, Japan, on
the occasion of the World Congress held for the 70th anniversary of CIGR. During that
Congress a plan was developed to underline the importance of this topic by compiling
a sixth volume of the CIGR Handbook of Agricultural Engineering to deal with In-
formation Technology (IT).
IT is a technology that has turned out to be a driving force for progress over the
past decades. Hardware, algorithms, and software for information processing are the
foundations of this success story. In fact, many of the world’s inhabitants make use of
various IT components in their everyday life. Older components include phone, radio,
and TV. More recently introduced were fax machines, personal computers in their
various forms, the Internet, mobile phones, satellite-based car navigation systems,
MP3 music recorders, and digital cameras.
Agricultural production could and can profit significantly from these developments.
Although agricultural machines cannot be driving forces for specialized IT compo-
nents as they are only a small market, the components of mass-produced IT equipment
can be easily integrated into agricultural production processes.
Some examples: Precision agriculture would be extremely expensive if satellite-
based position monitoring through the global positioning system were not available.
Furthermore, for example, numerous sensors are needed for yield monitoring, and
flexible computer software is necessary in geographic information systems. The pre-
requisite of availability of large computing and hard-disk storage capacities is re-
garded as a matter of course. Precision agriculture is not yet widely used in farming,
but large farmers and contractors have already realized the benefits of these tech-
niques, have proven their economical and ecological advantages, and are applying
them in their everyday tasks.
Employing the ISO 64-bit code for the worldwide identification of animals opens
the door for monitoring the entire animal production chain. The cost for RFID (radio
frequency identification) transponders will be only a few cents by the year 2010. Low
cost RFID will provide the opportunity to track and trace not only large animals, but
small animals or, after slaughtering, parts of animals. This can be regarded as another
big step in the global search for food quality and food safety assurance and the trace-
ability of agricultural products, as well as for the prevention of the spread of animal
diseases.
Automation in plant and animal production processes has been introduced for many
years. It is directly linked to the availability of suitable sensors and actuators. For in-
stance, automated milking is an advanced demonstration of these techniques. Sensors
for use in the field also demonstrate the great potential offered by modern technology
for monitoring plants’ demands for fertilizer, irrigation, or disease and pest control; for
automated navigation along plant rows; etc. In an agricultural environment it is usually
xviii Preface

much more difficult to fulfil automation tasks than in an industrial environment, since
weather conditions, different crops, soil variation, and many other external influences
create a non-uniform workplace for the automation components.
These are only a few examples of applications of IT in agriculture. Besides these
on-line applications, a number of examples also exist for an off-line use of IT: deci-
sion support systems for on-farm use and whole rural areas; the use of remote sensing
data in planning of agricultural activities; the planning of farm buildings, especially
animal houses; and applications of computerized fluid dynamics for the simulation of
interactions between agriculture and the environment.
To address all relevant applications in one volume is an extremely difficult task.
However, many aspects are covered by this sixth volume of the CIGR Handbook of
Agricultural Engineering, and many competent authors agreed to contribute. Specifi-
cally, the 35 sections of this handbook were written by 86 authors—all of them experts
in their particular areas. These authors have their origins and workplaces in 18 coun-
tries and represent many languages other than English. Although the editorial board
members made great efforts to standardize the format, style, and terminology, the
reader’s broad-mindedness in overlooking some remaining differences is highly ap-
preciated.
The book is organized into nine chapters. The first three deal with general topics
that have some relation to agricultural applications, and are primarily devoted to
methods, basics, and tools. Some of the sections in these chapters are written by ex-
perts from disciplines other than agriculture. These chapters are (1) The History of
Information Processing Technology, (2) Hardware (this material is mainly from other
disciplines), and (3) Methods, Algorithms, and Software. A further six chapters treat
the agricultural engineering applications of IT. These are (4) Mechatronics and Appli-
cations, followed by the largest chapter of this book, (5) Precision Agriculture. The
following chapter is also a broad one, (6) Management and Decision Support Systems.
The emphasis of the last three chapters is directed to more specialized aspects, (7)
Communication Issues and Internet Use, (8) From Production to the User, and finally
an aspect that is always important within CIGR, (9) Low Cost IT for Developing
Countries. The references lists are extremely valuable sources of further information,
including in total about 1,300 entries.
May this sixth volume of the CIGR Handbook of Agricultural Engineering—in the
same way as the first five volumes of the Handbook—be useful to many students as
well as agricultural engineering professionals. It is my hope that this handbook will be
used worldwide to promote and improve agricultural production, its interactions with
the environment, and related industrial activities.

Axel Munack
Editor-in-Chief