DSS in precision farming are a key factor in efficiently managing the farm and making the right decisions at the right time.

Until now, choices have been made using consolidated and handed down practices, but relying exclusively on traditional methods could compromise the harvest.

Due to drastic and sudden climate changes, technological evolution and innovation of cultural practices are no longer an option, but a necessity that can allow the farmer to be competitive and improve, not passively suffering adversities.

The purpose of DSS is not to “impose” a choice, but to provide support (as the word itself says) to technicians and farmers in analyzing the decisions to be made.

Why use these tools in precision farming? The advantages are many:

• support the farmer or technician in maintaining control over all the variables necessary to evaluate decisions;
• help the farmer or technician by providing numerical forecasts, even in the very short term;
• can be managed remotely;
• store all the information by creating a historical database.

DSS can be compared to filing cabinets that can automatically collect, organize, interpret and integrate information. They provide useful data that suggest the most appropriate agronomic interventions to be carried out, whether they are long-term strategic or operational.

A Decision Support System (DSS) is an IT architecture that can support the farmer by offering him valid support, a tool that cannot work without a decision maker to whom it provides indications on:

• the availability of all the information necessary to understand the problem;
• the possibility of exploring the data from different points of view according to your needs;
• the possibility of evaluating the scenarios resulting from the choices.

DSS designed for agriculture, thanks to their sector specificity, integrate different models oriented to the complex needs of the farmer 4.0.

Decision Support Systems are in fact able to collect, organize and process large quantities of data and transfer them to the user in the form of simple and clear information in a summary graphic interface.

The sources from which the data come are different:

• meteorological parameters obtained from weather forecasts, agrometeorological stations and sensors placed in the field;
• forecast models on phenology, irrigation status and adversities related to the crop;
• monitoring of adversities observed in the field and georeferenced thanks to smartphones.

All this data is processed through databases and sophisticated analysis algorithms that allow the transition from raw data to processed data up to agronomic advice.
DSS follow the fundamental activities of every expert in the sector:

• observation and monitoring of crops;
• data analysis;
• support for decisions to be made on the operations to be carried out;
• correct execution of agronomic interventions.