A Computerised Decision Making Aid for Environmental Management in Arable Agriculture

In the past the environmental consequences of arable agriculture were often accepted without question. However, there is now increasing debate and public concern regarding the short and long term environmental impacts that might occur as a result of farming practices. Concern, within arable agriculture, is especially focused towards the over-ambitious use of fertilisers and the consequence of nitrate leaching, the use of pesticides and their environmental impact and the loss and degradation of soil as a resource through poor practices. Increasingly stringent regulations and supply chain pressures are now forcing farmers to assess their current practices and, in some cases, substitute current techniques with more environmentally acceptable alternatives. Farming needs to become an integral part of the environment and not peripheral to it.