Determination of the effects of land leveling on wheat production in the Şanlıurfa region

In recent years, digital technologies have been applied extensively in many branches of industry. As a result of this, the effects of digital transformation have also begun to be seen in agricultural production. One of the areas of use of agricultural technologies is land leveling. Land leveling is one of the first processes to be done in agricultural production. Correct or incorrect land leveling will directly affect other stages of agricultural production. With correct land leveling, many benefits such as saving on irrigation, correct planting norm, increasing product yield, reducing weed problems, and making the product suitable for harvest will be seen. The most modern method used in land leveling is laser leveling machines. However, traditional leveling methods are generally used. For this study, how 13 farmers producing wheat in the Şanlıurfa Region leveled their land and the accuracy of the slopes they obtained were determined. For this purpose, geographic information systems (GIS) and devices used in mapping (distance measuring device, height measurement device, coordinate determination device) and their methods were used. In this study, the elevation and slope values of 13 fields where wheat is produced in Şanlıurfa region were examined. The values pre- and post-leveling were analyzed according to A-B (elevation-1), C-D (elevation-2), E-F (elevation-3) elevations. As a result of the research, a decrease in the elevation levels (A-B elevation) of the enterprises before and after land leveling was detected. In addition, although not statistically significant, a decrease was also observed in E–F (Elevation 3) levels and overall average elevation values. Although the slope did not show a statistically significant decrease after land leveling, it was determined that the slope values at the points A-B, C-D, E-F and the general average slope decreased.