GPS technology can be used successfully also in the pasture economy, as scientists of the Chair for Agrarian System Technology of the TU Munich - Weihenstephan show. In grassland regions, which are difficult for farming, more and more meadows and pastures are no longer in use today. The lacking activity then often causes an overgrazing - accompanied by environmental impacts like erosion or nutrient discharge which are caused through over-fertilization.

GPS tags
A modern positioning and sensor technology can help to shape the pasture management more persistently. Basic prerequisite is the knowledge about the concrete behaviour of the pasture animals in the mountain farming. Through use of GPS tags with integrated activity sensors the Weihenstephan scientists could grasp exactly the areal behaviour of animals on mountain pastures. On this basis, tools for a »Precision Landscape Management« now can be developed which allow a better linkage of agricultural production goals with nature conservation claims. The system of the future should allow the farmer to oversee, to steer and to manage his animal herds from his own PC without the cost-intensive sheperd‘s care.