Crop scouting

Crop scouting is precise assessments of pest pressure (typically insects) and crop performance to evaluate economic risk from pest infestations and disease, and the potential effectiveness of pest and disease control interventions. Scouting is usually sold as a commercial service to farmers. New tools are available to increase the effectiveness of crop scouting, including specialized field instruments and handheld computers with GPS, enabling geo-tagging of crop problems. CropIQ from Precision Plant Systems is one of the new generation of crop scouting systems that enables growers and crop consultants to precisely and accurately locate and tag crop issues, visualize them on an aerial map and make decisions for site-specific treatments.

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document "Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition" by Jasper Womach.