An Integrated Approach to Promote Precision Farming as a Measure Toward Reduced-Input Agriculture in Northern Greece Using a Spatial Decision Support System

Although precision farming has matured enough to provide off-the-shelf solutions, the level of penetration in southeast European agricultural production is low. The aim of this work was to identify the locations with highest potential for adopting precision farming in the Region of Central Macedonia (Greece) and promote the adoption of precision farming clusters, as a measure toward reducing input agriculture. This was achieved through spatial multicriteria decision analysis on several geographic layers and the identification of the appropriate weights for the criteria through the analytic hierarchy process. A Geographic Information System was incorporated to perform the analysis of numerous layers that describe the environmental, social, and economic relevant data of the study area. Five locations were selected because of their potentially high benefit on an environmental and socio-economic dimension if they were to replace the conventional farming techniques and adopt precision farming. Educational and information sessions were set up within the selected locations, and questionnaires were used to collect the farmers’ perceptions. The formation of precision farming clusters was promoted as a sustainable solution to the attendees, and questionnaires were used to collect their opinion. To form an integrated approach toward precision farming adoption, additional recommendations were provided to support pilot actions that will act as showcases of success stories.