For more than a century, agricultural mechanization encouraged larger fields with more uniform management and increasing impacts on the environment. The trajectory of agricultural technology is now at an inflection point where information technology, including remote sensing, simulation modeling, decision support systems, precision agricultural technologies, and automation, enables site-specific management at small spatial scales with the potential to simultaneously enhance food and bioenergy production, farm profitability, and environmental quality. To achieve these economic and environmental benefits of transforming agricultural landscape design and cropping system management, agricultural producers need increased access to both enabling technologies and engineering expertise. Government policies and programs are also needed to incentivize changes in cropping systems that promote soil health and improve water quality, for example, payments to cover much or all of the cost of transitioning land use to perennials and nutrient trading programs in which agricultural producers contract with industrial and municipal wastewater generators to reduce nutrient loading at a reduced cost. Information technology is providing the tools to target, quantify, and document this re-coupling of economic, environmental, and social sustainability in food–energy–water systems.

一个多世纪以来，农业机械化鼓励更大的领域，更统一的管理和对环境的日益增加的影响。现在，农业技术的发展正处于一个拐点，包括遥感，模拟建模，决策支持系统，精确农业技术和自动化在内的信息技术可以在较小的空间尺度上进行特定地点的管理，并有可能同时增强粮食和农业资源。生物能源生产，农场盈利能力和环境质量。为了实现转变农业景观设计和耕作系统管理的这些经济和环境利益，农业生产者需要更多地获取使能技术和工程专业知识。还需要政府的政策和计划来激励改变耕作制度的方法，以促进土壤健康和改善水质，例如，支付土地使用权向多年生植物过渡的大部分或全部费用以及与农业生产者签约的养分交易计划的费用工业和市政废水发生器，以降低的成本减少养分含量。信息技术为确定，量化和记录粮食，能源，水系统中经济，环境和社会可持续性的这种重新耦合提供了工具。支付土地使用权到多年生植物和养分交易计划的大部分或全部费用，在这些计划中，农业生产者与工业和市政废水产生者签订合同，以降低的成本减少养分含量。信息技术为确定，量化和记录粮食，能源，水系统中经济，环境和社会可持续性的这种重新耦合提供了工具。支付土地使用权到多年生植物和养分交易计划的大部分或全部费用，在这些计划中，农业生产者与工业和市政废水产生者签订合同，以降低的成本减少养分含量。信息技术为确定，量化和记录粮食，能源，水系统中经济，环境和社会可持续性的这种重新耦合提供了工具。