Development of wireless sensor networks for agricultural monitoring

The concept of precision agriculture has been around for some time now. Blackmore et al., in 1994 [1] defined it as a comprehensive system designed to optimize agricultural production by carefully tailoring soil and crop management to correspond to the unique condition found in each field while maintaining environmental quality. The early adopters during that time found precision agriculture to be unprofitable and the instances in which it was implemented were few and far between. Further, the high initial investment in the form of electronic equipment for sensing and communication meant that only large farms could afford it.