Opinion: Agricultural cybernetics, what it is, why needs it and what needs to do

Abstract

This article presents the author’s opinion on potential benefits and challenges of applying cybernetics theory to agriculture, termed agricultural cybernetics. While farming shares similarities with a control system and could benefit from system modeling and control theory, its inherent characteristics pose opportunities to expand existing theories. Such obstacles are induced by the complexities involved in crop production, including the impact of climate, soil, water, fertilizer, farming operations, and the unique communication and control mechanisms within these elements, thus, requires a transdisciplinary approach and further research to remove. This opinion paper particularly underlines the need for creating task-specific models and incorporating farmers' management strategies into these models. Additionally, the author introduces a concept of “Repertoire,” a unique component that distinguishes agricultural cybernetics from conventional control approaches, that acts as a knowledge base of farming strategies under specified conditions. Overall, this article aims to stimulate research interests in agricultural cybernetics and provide insights into benefits and challenges in applying cybernetics theory to agriculture.