Skills Management of Applying Precision Farming in Process of Sustainable Agricultural Development in West Azerbaijan Province

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the skills management required for the application of precision farming in the process of sustainable agricultural development in West Azerbaijan Province. This research in terms of purpose is an applied research and in terms of methodology is part of descriptive survey research. The statistical population of this research were the experts and officials of mechanization of West Azerbaijan Province that due to the limited number of population (n=86) a Census method used to collect the data. The survey instrument was a questionnaire which its validity confirmed by executive experts. Reliability of the questionnaire calculated with using Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which was equal to 0.77. Based on the results of the factor analysis showed that seven factors (accounting skills; agronomic skills; diagnostic skills of variability, information seeking skills, setting goals and decision-making skills, economic skills in applying of agricultural machinery and technical skills in applying of agricultural machinery) in total, 61.27 percent of variance have been explained the management skills necessary for precision farming in the process of sustainable agriculture developing. Among them, accounting skills with explanation 23.91 percent of total variance had a greater role