LOST IN THE FIELDS? Where are you? Agriculture just moved on… ‘Gbenga Sesan | Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. February

Ages Past, and Years to Come … We live in a time defined by information, sharpened by technology and guided by knowledge. It’s the Information Age, which has given birth to a New Economy The beauty of the Information Age is that it feeds into the periods that have gone before it – arts, agriculture, automation, and more… The future will be defined by how best we can network the uniqueness of each age in promoting better livelihoods and lifestyles Information Technology plays a prominent role in tomorrow’s – and even today’s – agricultural processes, and in the entire “industry”

Don’t Get Lost. Be Prepared… The world’s underdeveloped economies will keep seeing Agriculture in the past as long as today’s tools are not built into the process You’re a global citizen and must understand what obtains in your field of study – even if you will “divert” The world is not looking for those who know the “history” of agriculture – or those whose lecture notes are complete - but those who can deliver tomorrow’s values today while building on yesterday’s concepts Amazing things are being thrown up in the world’s present agricultural space, courtesy of Information Technology

PA is not Personal Assistant! A farmer walks through his soybean field in central Illinois, heading for a spot pinpointed by a remote sens- ing image the farmer downloaded in that morning’s e- mail. Pest infestation in this small spot, indicated by a change in the “vegetative index,” would not ordinarily be detected this quickly. Untreated, it could spread rapidly and destroy his entire crop. The farmer opens his palm-top computer, brings up information on the pest, completes an economic threshold analysis, and determines what control measures he will use. He records the exact location of the infestation using the integral global positioning system (GPS) receiver and alerts his pest control advi-sor and custom pesticide applicator via cellular phone link… continued

PA is Precision Agriculture! Meanwhile, a wheat farmer in Nebraska is recording yields as her combine passes through the field, pinpointing the location of each yield amount with the GPS receiver linked to the yield monitor. This and previous years’ yield maps entered into a geographic information system (GIS) help her plan the fertilizer regime for this field to optimize economic yield and reduce nitrogen leaching to the groundwater. These vignettes are not science fiction. Precision Agriculture (PA), a new suite of information technologies, has the poten-tial to improve resource use, increase profits, and reduce environmental impacts of agricultural production...

New Agriculture… in Beinjing Intelligent Agriculture Information Technology Application and Demonstration Project (IAITADP) in Beijing included the three parts: construction of information service platform; research and development of intelligent information system and demonstration; and extension of intelligent agriculture information technologies… Remarkable effect on development of agriculture intelligent system, construction of computer network, experiment and demonstration, extension and application, and stuff training were made after 4 years effort… Valuable experience of information technology widely used on agriculture was explored and broad prospects of information technology in the future agriculture modernization development were fully showed.

Thailand’s Future in Agriculture The development strategy [8 th National and Social Development Plan ( )] is to use people as focal point of development. In order to implement this project (“The Strengthening Capability in Management of the Farmers Project”) effectively and efficiently… the available information technologies such as teleconference, direct to home satellite, and internet will be investigated … as a means for the tranfer of technology and relevant information to farmers. It is expected that the use of IT for this purpose in the long run will save the government budget and personel… there will be no information gap between the original sources and the end users of the information as compared with the conventional procedure in which the information were conveyed to farmers in many steps via government officials at various levels…

But I’m in Nigeria! This would have been an excuse … but it’s a globalised world and you do NOT have an excuse for being lost in the fields There are opportunities for you beyond classwork and textbooks – explore the web! Please see www2.agriculture.purdue.edu for new and interesting directions in your field – Agriculture Information Technology Some professions will suffer from extinction if the new tools that make today’s world count are not embraced. Does it look like Agriculture is one of them? Did I hear someone say “typist”? I believe a New Nigeria is emerging, and while IT will play a major role, other professions must embrace this “wonder”

This Seminar Must Not End Here Your profession is as valuable as you make it! “Shit business is serious business” RESURCES FOR THE CURIOUS (References): "Application of Information Technology in Agriculture in Thailand" by Apichart Pongsrihadulchai. Agricultural Information Technology in Asia and Oceania 1998; © 1998 by The Asian Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture Intelligent Agriculture Information Technology Application And Emonstration Project In Beijing. Zhao Chunjiang, Yang Baozhu, Chen Liping, Sun Xiang, Gu Jingqiu. Beijing Agriculture Information Technology Research Center (BAITRC), POB 2449 #22, Beijing China, "Precision Agriculture: Information Technology for Improved Resource Use". Agricultural Outlook/April Economic Research Service/USDA

LOST IN THE FIELDS? Where are you? Agriculture just moved on… ‘Gbenga Sesan | Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. February QUESTIONS? THANK YOU