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Precision agriculture technologies and systems will significantly change food and fiber production as we move into the next century. Engineers have and will continue to contribute to this field through development of equipment and sensors, application of technologies such as remote sensing and computer modeling, creation and evaluation of precision agriculture systems, and management of technology development and implementation activities. Realization of the potential benefits of precision agriculture -- including both improvements in production efficiency and achievement of water, air, and soil environmental quality goals -- will require a partnership between engineering and other disciplines in both industry and the public sector.

Development of sensors, particularly sensors specifically developed for Site-Specific Crop Management, currently lags the other enabling technologies. Real-time sensors, i.e., those that can sense a soil or plant parameter and produce an estimate of the value of the parameter within a few seconds, are under development. Our research has exploited two technologies - spectral reflectance and ion-selective membranes, for sensing of soil parameters. We found that optical estimation of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil moisture content can be accomplished with wide-band and narrow band spectral reflectance data. A rugged portable NIR sensor was developed which was able to predict SOM (r2 = 0.89, SEP = 0.40% SOM) and soil moisture (r2 = 0.94, SEP = 1.88%). A system using ion-selective membranes, field effect transistors, and flow injection analysis was able to predict soil nitrates in manual soil extracts with r2 > 0.90.