Decision Support Systems in Crop Protection

Abstract

All farmers and growers have at some time faced the decision of whether to control a pest in their crop. In order to make the correct decision the farmer needs access to, and an understanding of, sufficient information relevant to such pest problems. Decision support systems are able to help farmers make these difficult decisions by providing information in an easily understandable and quickly accessed form. The increasing use of computers by farmers for record-keeping and business management is putting the hardware necessary for the implementation of these systems onto more and more farms. The scarcity of expert advice, increasingly complex decisions and reduced economic margins all increase the importance of making the right pest management decision at the right time. It is against this background that decision support systems have an important role to play in the fight against losses caused by pests and diseases.