These days, agriculture faces considerable challenges from an unpredictable climate and the limited availability of natural resources, particularly soil, all of which are crucial for humanity, serving as a vital source for food production, water storage, and various ecosystem services. Rice farming relies heavily on the suitability of paddy fields. One of the important factors that significantly impact both the quantity and quality of rice yields is uneven rice fields. This issue can lead to various problems such as inefficient water management, resulting in inconsistent rice growth and ineffective pest control in the fields. Agricultural technology and innovation thus serve as essential tools, enabling farmers to adapt to these changes effectively, mitigating risks and maximising benefits of natural resource utilisation.

The Building a Climate Resilient Potato Supply Chain Through a Whole-Farm Approach (RePSC) project is well aware of the importance of land management, which is the first step in ensuring high-quality yields. As a result, the project organised training and a field day on “GPS Land Levelling for Crop Rotation”, integrating technology and innovation to support agricultural practices in Chiang Rai Province, where the project has been implemented. This event involved 20 farmers from Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani Provinces, as well as 60 officials from the Rice Department, the Land Development Department, the Office of Agricultural Extension and Development Region 6 (Chiang Mai), Chiang Rai Provincial Agricultural Extension Office, and Wiang Pa Pao District Agricultural Extension Office, and representatives from private sector companies, including Pepsi-Cola (Thai) Trading Co., Ltd., and Urmatt Ltd.

GPS land levelling technology is an efficient tool that helps farmers achieve more consistent and even field surfaces. This GPS technology accurately maps the elevation of the land surface, allowing farmers to identify high and low points of the land precisely. It also enables automated measurements of soil depth in the field to calculate average soil level, reducing both time and labour costs in land levelling activities. GPS land levelling can be applied in various environments including areas with a slope and in steep terrain. Although complex geographical conditions or steep slopes can occasionally restrict its efficiency, GPS land levelling offers more flexibility than Laser Land Levelling, which requires specialised expertise to setup and operate equipment, posing challenges for farmers who are not familiar with the technology. Moreover, high levels of dust in fields can interfere with laser signal transmission between emitter and receiver, potentially impacting operational accuracy.

Beyond rice fields, land levellers can be employed for various crops, aiding in water management across the entire plot, preventing waterlogging in specific areas. This is particularly beneficial for potatoes, which require some water but do not like waterlogged conditions, to thrive and produce high yields. The traditional land levelling method, which relied on visual assessment, can result in significant terrain variations across the field leading to prolonged water pumping durations. Adopting this GPS technology can reduce the time required for land levelling, promote consistent crop growth, decrease the prevalence of plant pests and diseases, and improve overall ecosystem management within the field. The key advantages of land levellers in enhancing production efficiency can be summarised as follows.

• Ensuring even soil levels with high precision
• Farmers can manage water in their rice field more easily, allowing efficient water inflow and outflow. This ensures timely and sufficient nutrient delivery to crops.
• Minimising weed growth.
• Decreasing production costs without impacting the environment.

The recent training and field day has sparked interest among farmers and local organisations in promoting GPS land levelling technology in Chiang Rai province. This initiative also integrates the concept of sustainable agricultural landscape management to address climate change impacts.