Objectives and Structure of the Information and Communication System for "Smart" Organic Farming

Abstract

The authors showed that the organic production is an actively growing global business: in 2017, it occupied more than 1.4 percent of all agricultural land on the planet. The authors emphasized the relevance of digitalization with the constant growth of the database, which the farmer needs to process quickly and effi ciently. (Research purpose) To form the structure of the information and communication system for the «smart» crop organic farming and the database necessary for its training and ensuring its functioning. (Materials and methods) The prior research was used, as well as previously created databases and information from the existing literature. Since 2016, a multifactorial experiment with potatoes has been carried out as part of an organic crop rotation to fi ll the information base with experimental data. (Results and discussion) The structure of the information and communication system of the “smart” organic crop production has been formed. It is based on the territory digital map and agricultural crop digital models. In the course of the work of the system, we decided to make daily changes to the digital model of agricultural crops based on the incoming agroecological information, as well as to prepare recommendations on the relevant choice and use of the planned technological operations. It was found out that in a fouryear fi eld experiment, the potato yield in the control variant (without the introduction of compost and pesticides) averaged 21.7 tons per hectare, and when using compost and biofungicide Kartofi n, it increased to 26.7 tons per hectare. The authors calculated multiple linear regression equations describing the dependence of the nitrogen mineral form content in the soil in June on the sum of the active temperatures during this period and the compost dose (the correlation coeffi cient is 0.658); and the dependence of potato yield on the nitrogen mineral form content in the soil in the fi rst ten days of June and the sum of active temperatures in May-June (the correlation coeffi cient is 0.667). (Conclusions) The authors presented the structure of the information and communication system of an organic agricultural enterprise, substantiated the possibility of its full implementation as a tool that helps agricultural producers to carry out environmentally safe, competitive and effi cient organic production at a totally new level.