Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #161562
Title: PRECISION CONSERVATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Author
item BERRY, JOSEPH - U OF DENVER, CO
item Delgado, Jorge
item KHOSLA, RAJIV - CSU, FORT COLLINS, CO
item PIERCE, FRANCIS - WASHINGTON ST. UNIV.

Submitted to: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/25/2003
Publication Date: 7/21/2003
Citation: Berry, J., Delgado, J.A., Khosla, R., Pierce, F. 2003. Precision conservation for environmental sustainability. 58:332-339.

Interpretive Summary: With continued population growth and increasing demands on water resources, Precision Conservation will have an increasing role during this new millennium. Increases in population growth and food and water demands will put increasing pressure for development of new more efficient technology and production practices that contribute to higher yields. Since intensive farming can potentially impact soil and water quality, parallel increases in new practices and technology contributing to improved soil and water conservation practices will be needed to help sustain and maintain the needed yield increases from agricultural systems. We propose that Precision Conservation will have a key impact during the 21st century for soil and water conservation and global environmental sustainability. We define Precision Conservation as a set of spatial technologies and procedures linked to mapped variables directed to implement conservation management practices. Precision Conservation as we have defined it will require the integration of spatial technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS), remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) and the ability to analyze spatial relationships within and among mapped data by three broad categories of surface modeling, spatial data mining and map analysis. The spatial technologies will be used to implement practices that contribute to soil and water conservation in agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Technical Abstract: With continued population growth and increasing demands on water resources, Precision Conservation will have an increasing role during this new millennium. Increases in population growth and food and water demands will put increasing pressure for development of new more efficient technology and production practices that contribute to higher yields. Since intensive farming can potentially impact soil and water quality, parallel increases in new practices and technology contributing to improved soil and water conservation practices will be needed to help sustain and maintain the needed yield increases from agricultural systems. We propose that Precision Conservation will have a key impact during the 21st century for soil and water conservation and global environmental sustainability. We define Precision Conservation as a set of spatial technologies and procedures linked to mapped variables directed to implement conservation management practices. Precision Conservation as we have defined it will require the integration of spatial technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS), remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) and the ability to analyze spatial relationships within and among mapped data by three broad categories of surface modeling, spatial data mining and map analysis. The spatial technologies will be used to implement practices that contribute to soil and water conservation in agricultural and natural ecosystems.