Improvements in the sustainability of agricultural production depend essentially on advances in the efficient use of nitrogen. Precision farming promises solutions in this respect. Variable rate technologies allow the right quantities of fertilizer to be applied at the right place. This helps to both maintain yields and avoid nitrogen losses. However, these technologies are still not widely adopted, especially in small-scale farming systems. Recent developments in sensing technologies, like drones or satellites, open up new opportunities for variable rate technologies.

This paper examines the determinants of participation in an outsourced extension programs and its impact of smallholder farmers' net farm income in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to obtain cross-sectional farm-level data from a sample of 300 farm households, using a structured questionnaire for the interview. The determinants and impacts of participation were estimated using the propensity score matching (PSM) to account for sample selection bias.

Based on GIS technologies, a decision support system (GIDSS) has been developed to remediate agricultural lands in the Bryansk region (Russia) contaminated by 137Cs after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. GIDSS is a multilevel system consisting of basic, information and computational layers. GIDSS allows justifying a targeted approach for the remediation of agricultural lands belonging to agricultural enterprises for the production that meets the established radiological requirements for the content of radionuclides.