Why DSS are so important for Agriculture?

DSS stands for Decision Support System and identifies an information systems for supporting decisions, or, improving the impact of strategic analysis in solving complex problem through a complex set of data. The DSS collects a series of useful information to solve a problem. These systems provide data in a fast and safe way (thanks to the quality control on the input data) and, moreover, understand the effectiveness and efficiency of actions taken.

Since the first prototypes have appeared, their use is expanding: from first application in economy and finance since very different sectors such as health or transport.

The use of DSS in Agriculture is mainly a young event, but has been the forerunner of the integration between ICT world and Agriculture.

The DSS are real ecosystems: every data detected by the system is “related” with others, becoming part of a heterogeneous set of data that composes the final information , provided to users. Let’s think about how the final products could be improved if we only could know what is the helth status of the plant,  the weather conditions and soil characteristics, in order to correct our actions. This is just one of the advantages of a “dialogue” with the plant.

But also: we must not forget that we are witnessing one of the most anomalous climatic trends in recent years. With the alternation of frosts and droughts, it has now become imperative to predict the behavior of crops within each scenario and act promptly to stem possible damage.

In other words, the DSS are gradually making crops more and more resilient  and our actions smarter.