Expert systems in agriculture and long-term research

Abstract

Expert systems (ES) technology has many existing and potential uses as input into the agricultural production process. ES are simply computer programs that attempt to emulate human expertise for problem solving purposes. This technology is well suited to agricultural problem solving because of its ability to encode existing knowledge within specific application areas and then apply this knowledge within the problem solving process. ES effectively leverage management's input into agricultural production systems by allowing for the assimilation of all available knowledge pertinent to the task at hand. There are many types of agricultural ES and these can generally be categorized into: Crop Management Advisors, Livestock Management Advisors, Planning Systems, Pest Management Sytems, Diagnostic Systems, Conser-vation/Engineering Systems, Process Control Systems and Marketing Advisory Systems. The cost of ES development can be high. Potential projects, therefore, should be subjected to a benefit/cost analysis to ensure that development efforts are well targeted. ES development and agricultural research are complementary processes and should become more coordinated within an integrated knowledge production and implementation cycle. Key words: Expert systems, knowledge, management, agriculture, research