caa a22 4500 445864591 CHVBK 20180317145454.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110801xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11119-010-9197-y doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11119-010-9197-y The arable farmer as the assessor of within-field soil variation [Elektronische Daten] [S. Heijting, S. de Bruin, A. Bregt] Feasible, fast and reliable methods of mapping within-field variation are required for precision agriculture. Within precision agriculture research much emphasis has been put on technology, whereas the knowledge that farmers have and ways to explore it have received little attention. This research characterizes and examines the spatial knowledgearable farmers have of their fields and exploreswhether it is a suitable starting point to map the within-field variation of soil properties. A case study was performed in the Hoeksche Waard, the Netherlands, at four arable farms. A combination of semi-structured interviews and fieldwork was used to map spatially explicit knowledge of within-field variation. At each farm, a field was divided into internally homogeneous units as directed by the farmer, the soil of the units was sampled and the data were analysed statistically. The results show that the farmers have considerable spatial knowledge of their fields. Furthermore, they apply this knowledge intuitively during various field management activities such as fertilizer application, soil tillage and herbicide application. The sample data on soil organic matter content, clay content and fertility show that in general the farmers' knowledge formed a suitable starting point for mapping within-field variation in the soil. Therefore, it should also be considered as an important information source for highly automated precision agriculture systems. The Author(s), 2010 Precision agriculture nationallicence Farmers' knowledge nationallicence Soil sampling nationallicence Management zone nationallicence Within-field variation nationallicence Heijting S. Centre for Geo Information, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut de Bruin S. Centre for Geo Information, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut Bregt A. Centre for Geo Information, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut Precision Agriculture Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 12/4(2011-08-01), 488-507 1385-2256 12:4<488 2011 12 11119 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-010-9197-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-010-9197-y text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Heijting S. Centre for Geo Information, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- de Bruin S. Centre for Geo Information, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Bregt A. Centre for Geo Information, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Precision Agriculture Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 12/4(2011-08-01), 488-507 1385-2256 12:4<488 2011 12 11119 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer