The land grant university system and the Agricultural Research Service have been enormously successful at creating and transferring a knowledge base to local farming communities for production of large quantities of crops at low cost. Recently, external influences such as global trade, environmental concerns, and consumer preferences have been creating new pressures for the agricultural industry. The need to accommodate production and marketing changes has put our agricultural research institutions in a new and unfamiliar setting.

Information technologies can facilitate a response to market and societal pressures. Techniques are available for making precise measurements and continuously updating field conditions. However, our ability to acquire data through tools such as on-the-go sensors, yield monitors, and geographically referenced databases has surpassed our ability to interpret this data. Even more importantly, information that is adequate today may be insufficient to meet tomorrow's needs of producers, agribusiness managers, and society. Our universities and laboratories will need to radically alter their approaches to accommodate this information overflow.

For this reason the Research, Education, and Economics agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with additional support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (operated by Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company), requested that the National Research Council's Board on Agriculture convene a study committee to explore the potential for developing, coordinating, and using these information-handling tools for research, on-farm applications, and formulation of agricultural policies. Questions addressed by the committee included:

• How can evolving technologies aid producer decision making in agricultural crop production?

• What are the incentives for adoption and barriers to implementation of these information technologies?

• What are the environmental, economic, and social implications of precision agriculture?

• What are the appropriate roles for the public and private sectors in improving and disseminating these technologies?

Early on in its deliberations, the committee identified the scope of its report to include adoption and effectiveness of information technologies (the Internet, for example) that affect operations in the farm field. The committee was convinced that information technologies should optimize decision making, recognizing that a producer must manage for multiple goals. The committee adopted an approach that could accommodate numerous aspects of crop management that are interrelated and vary in time and space.

Despite being challenged by a lack of comprehensive data, the committee drew on its collective experience, knowledgeable opinions of experienced individuals, and reasoned judgment to develop many of its findings. The committee used multiple sources of information, such as national meetings and a literature review, to aid its deliberations. Invited experts (producers, input suppliers, crop consultants, and university scientists) provided their input on a number of topics:

• Potential of information-intensive management of crops;

• Rural development and size-neutrality issues;

• Producer perspectives on adoption and limitations of precision agriculture;

• Changes in relationships between producers, suppliers, and markets; and

• Environmental implications of precision agriculture.

In this report, the committee recognized the potential for precision agriculture to fundamentally alter decision making on the farm. The basic agronomic knowledge necessary to support new farm management systems will need to be generated in new laboratories—on the farm. Research partners will have an opportunity to study relationships among crops, weather, pests, and soil biology in real time. This report offers a new paradigm for research, development, and transfer of information technologies.

The committee chose to take a cautious but optimistic view, recognizing that some important questions will need to be answered before precision agriculture demonstrates the benefits that would justify widespread adoption. The future is not clear, and structural changes already are occurring on farms and in service industries. However, information technologies are expected to be powerful tools that will enable us to learn from internal on-farm processes. It is the committee's hope that this report will provide the reader insights on the future of information technologies in crop management and appropriate roles for the public sector.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.