1. Impact of Soil Heterogeneity and Precision Air Seed Drill Settings on Maize Emergence Uniformity: Toward Sensor-based Predictive Models

Soil spatial heterogeneity at the intra-field scale strongly constrains crop establishment. This heterogeneity in soil texture, strength, and moisture often leads to uneven seed-soil contact and inconsistent emergence, reducing yield potential. Extreme climatic conditions, such as soil saturation or drought, amplify these challenges and further compromise uniform crop emergence. Although this issue is widely acknowledged, accounting for soil heterogeneity remains poorly integrated in... A. Veiga, H. De Araujo, L. Tetard, M. Faucon, C. Ugarte