Precision farming in crop and livestock production

Photo: ATB

Researching for a sustainable primary production

The research program is dedicated to site-specific sustainable intensification in the area of primary agricultural production all the way to harvesting.

Our research ranges from a comprehensive online data collection to modelling and process control. Technological and process engineering tasks include sensor-based technologies for precision farming and precision horticulture, the modelling of emissions and of the microclimate in naturally ventilated barn systems as well as the interaction between housing environment and animal welfare. The system assessment is analysing interactions and effects in relation to environment and economy. Here, we concentrate on nitrogen, greenhouse gases and water.

One focus of our research is to develop and apply sensors for assessing the condition of soils, plants and animals. Information on system parameters such as nutrient supply, plant growth, disease pressure, climatic conditions, water demand, respiratory rate, heat stress, fruit ripeness or others  can be recorded. Information collected in-situ integrates into the development of complex physiological and physical models. Online analysis is an essential element of individual and flexible process control. 

Precision crop production

Crop production is of central importance for the bio-economy: plant biomass not only provides food and animal feed, but is also the basis for bio-based materials and energy.

The global sustainability goals outline the current challenges for precision crop production: to increase productivity while using natural resources in a sustainable manner, to preserve biodiversity, ecosystems, soil fertility and natural habitats, to reduce the impact of invasive species and to ensure that chemicals are managed in an environmentally sound manner.

We are thus working on solutions for sensor-supported local resource management in precision agriculture and precision horticulture. The aim of our research is to increase the efficiency of plant production, in particular by means of adaptive process control and the development of technical solutions for individualized plant production, thus reducing consumption of natural resources, the use of chemicals and of emissions.

Innovative sensor technologies are opening up new possibilities in the field of data acquisition (information and communication technology, telemetry and robotics), processing (Big Data) and analysis of data (genomics, phenomics and bioinformatics). They are fundamental tools in the digital transformation process that agriculture is facing. The information obtained is used to develop complex physiological and physical models that enable precise control of production processes in the sense of a sustainable intensification.

Livestock Management

Animal husbandry concepts should integrate the three pillars of sustainability - environment, society and economy. Solutions have to be found in the area of conflicting interests. While the public's desire for improved animal welfare and more environmental protection is growing, the economic imperatives for the survival of farmers must also be taken into account to ensure that innovative processes can find their way into practice.

We therefore focus our application-oriented basic research in animal husbandry on the improvement of animal welfare, housing environment, animal and environmental protection and on maintaining economic competitiveness. Our goals are: objective animal welfare standards, concepts for solving environmental conflicts, transparent animal husbandry, consumer acceptance and added value from a regional production.

Program coordination

Prof. UZ Dr. Amon, Barbara

Scientist; Executive Board Representative for Research


Department: Technology Assessment

Email: bamon@spam.atb-potsdam.de

to the profile

To the team of the research program 'Precision farming in crop and livestock management'

News related to the program

News

Im Rahmen der Innovationstage 2022 von BMEL und BLE konnte sich das Projekt DigiMuh als ein Leuchtturmprojekt im Bereich digitale Landwirtschaft…

more
News

Plasma experts of the European network COST Action "Plasma Applications for Smart and Sustainable Agriculture - PlAgri" met at ATB on October 13 and…

more
News

Am 11. und 12. Oktober 2022 fand auf Einladung von BMEL und ATB in Potsdam das Symposium  „Mikrobiomforschung: der Schlüssel für eine zukunftsfähige…

more
News

Vor wenigen Tagen hat das Bundesministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV) sein Eckpunktepapier für die Nationale Biomassestrategie…

more
News

On September 6, the stakeholders of the just launched project 'D4AgEcol - Digitalisation for Agroecology' met for a first work meeting at ATB. Over…

more
News

Learning for life after graduating from high school? Bjarne Weigelt did it. He spent 12 months at the ATB as part of a 'Voluntary Social Year in…

more
News

Am 2. August war MdB Anke Domscheit-Berg, Die Linke, gemeinsam mit Mitarbeiter*innen im Rahmen eines Informationsbesuchs zu Gast in Groß Kreutz. Am…

more
News

The increase in global radiation, high temperatures and water shortages as a result of climate change are causing enormous stress for fruit trees as…

more
News

Sometimes doing nothing is even worse. Our planet earth is facing numerous and huge man-maid problems, such climate change, global biodiversity loss…

more
News

Are you familiar with the German Beer Purity Law? And did you know that Martin Luther was a great beer lover and therefore particularly admired one…

more
News

Fabian Frixen earned the Ludwig Ries Award for his outstanding thesis in the field of labour science in agriculture.

more
News

5 December is World Soil Day. Soil is essential for human life. ATB is researching in a number of projects to preserve the fertility of the soil.…

more

Events

06
Nov

AgriSens-DEMMIN 4.0, together with the DigiMix-PA and Soil-X-Change projects and the Integrated Crop Production demonstration farms, is organising a…

more
All Events

Research projects

More projects within the research program 'Precision farming in crop and livestock production'

Publications of the program

More publications of the research program

Cookies

We use cookies. Some are required to offer you the best possible content and functions while others help us to anonymously analyze access to our website. (Matomo) Privacy policy

Required required

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the proper functioning of the website. This category only includes cookies that ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Cookie Duration Description
PHPSESSID Session Stores your current session with reference to PHP applications, ensuring that all features of the site can be displayed properly. The cookie is deleted when the browser is closed.
bakery 24 hours Stores your cookie preferences.
fe_typo_user Session Is used to identify a session ID when logging into the TYPO3 frontend.
__Secure-typo3nonce_xxx Session Security-related. For internal use by TYPO3.
Analytics

With cookies in this category, we learn from visitors' behavior on our website and can make relevant information even more accessible.

Cookie Duration Description
_pk_id.xxx 13 months Matomo - User ID (for anonymous statistical analysis of visitor traffic; determines which user is being tracked)
_pk_ses.xxx 30 minutes Matomo - Session ID (for anonymous statistical analysis of visitor traffic; determines which session is being tracked)