Digital technologies for precision agriculture: Current approaches, advances and future perspectives

Abstract

The frequent occurrence of climatic extremes has been exerting significant pressure on the agricultural sector worldwide. This pressure forced the agriculturists to implement intensified agricultural practices such as digital technologies to cope with ever-increasing environmental stress factors. Given these challenges, this review aims to scrutinize current developments in digital technologies and the constraints hindering the adoption of digital agriculture. Digital technologies, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Internet of Things (IoT), spectral sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), robotics, thermal infrared cameras (TIR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual reality, Big Data, Metaverse, cloud computing, blockchain and digital mapping have been offering new pathways for companies to achieve economic, social and environmental purposes. Combined use of multiple technologies would be more beneficial for precision agriculture and economic efficiency. Advanced digital technologies are extensively adopted in many regions of the world, although there are significant differences among the countries in terms of the digital transformation. A bibliometric evaluation revealed that factors such as cost, ease of use of technical devices, technological infrastructure, farmers’ willingness, technology reliability and concerns about data security and privacy are key challenges in the adoption of digital agriculture. Therefore, policymakers should focus on particular challenges to promote the widespread adoption of digital technologies for sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agricultural production can be achieved through improved, precise use of affordable digital technologies and effective, site- and crop-specific data-driven decision support. Present developments demonstrate that AI and new autonomous approaches will become increasingly important for the detection and management of spatial variability. This review article focused on the bibliometric assessment of current approaches, feasibility, benefits, restrictions and future perspectives of digital technologies in increasing agricultural production. Overall investigations revealed that digitalization enables farmers to optimize resource use, enhance crop yields and address pressing challenges such as climate change and food security by integrating advanced technologies such as remote sensors, drones, robotics and data-driven decision-making tools. Data presented in this article is anticipated to guide agriculturists to speed up and employ the digital technology applications on the modern farming technologies.