Introduction
摘要
Humanity faces significant challenges over the coming decades, including how to feed a healthy diet to a growing population without further impacting on earth’s essential life supporting systems. Climate change mitigation and adaptation; the need to combat the biodiversity crisis; and increasing pressure on land, soil, air and water will necessitate a move towards an increasingly plant-based diet and more efficient production systems including improved irrigation and nutrient use. Precision technologies could have an important role to play in this transition. This book provides an overview of the current state of the art, case studies of real-life applications of agri-technology in horticulture, and evidence-based perspectives on likely future developments. It addresses the challenges, limitations and potential of precision farming technologies in the production, harvesting and post-harvest sorting of a range of annual and perennial horticultural crops. It is hoped that this book will help readers understand the principles of precision in horticulture production, the potential these technologies hold to transform the industry, and some of the limitations to realising that potential.