Thermal image of wheat plants (Left plants are infected with powdery mildew, right plants are healthy)

Information may help to improve the management of agricultural systems. To generate the information for specific needs, sensors or advanced models are required. Sensors may detect various information such as electromagnetic response, light reflectance, thermal radiation or physical parameters, which serve as proxies for the desired agronomic variables. Often more or less sophisticated models are needed to make efficient use of the sampled data.
A central task of technology assessment is the assessment of ecological, economic and social effects resulting from the application of sensors to processes and modified production methods. The introduction of sensor-based technologies is often accompanied by high investment costs, which have to be compensated by improved resource use or lower production costs to achieve considerable adoption. The improved resource use should also result in reduced environmental burdens of agricultural production activities to be socially acceptable. A holistic evaluation should further consider the impact of the sensor-based production methods on quantities and qualities of labour requirements.