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Month: September 2022

How IOT has modernized the entire agricultural industry- A life changer for the whole planet

Posted on by Pony

According to predictions, there will be more than 9 billion people in 2050. Therefore, the need for food will take dizzying new heights irrespective of untoward facts like deteriorating soil, extreme weather, drying lands, etc.

IoT and its applications may be a lifesaver for the entire humanity. It’s considered a boon when it comes to protecting Earth from the scarcity of preparing crops and feeding humanity in the upcoming days. It’s showing a ray of hope with its increased demand. Millions of dollars have been spent on deploying IoT machines across the globe.

Agricultural industries have already spectated several effective technological transformations in the last few decades. The result is multifaceted- technology driven and more modernized. Farmers now have better control over raising livestock and growing crops with various gadgets. In turn, it becomes more predictable while improving its efficiency.

Also, the ongoing consumer demand has contributed to the expanding proliferation of smart farming technologies. Today, we’ll discuss how IoT has interspersed its efficacy in agriculture and how people are reaping its benefits.
Let’s dive right in.

What is a smart farm?

Smart farms are managed by using smart technologies while adopting modern forms of communication. Smart farmers may use various technologies-

  • Dedicated software to diagnose animal and plant disease, followed by treating the same.
  • Sensors to control the humidity of water, moisture, and soil.
  • Tracking and managing the locations using satellite and GPS.
  • Operating the smart farm with robotics and automated tools. It helps to improve the crops’ quality and quantity.

What is smart farming?

Smart farming entails the usage of smart technologies like sensors, automated machines, drones, actuators, security cameras, etc., to control and operate agricultural lands and cattle. The motto is to increase both agricultural goods’ quality and quantity. Consequently, energy usage and cost also play a pivotal role in uplifting the entire process of smart farming.

Building up smart agriculture using IoT

The Internet of things has fueled the growth of agricultural and food production with its branches, including advanced analytics and big data. When it comes to IoT, the parent terms automation, sensing, and analytics all come one after another. The most common applications are-

  • Smart farming drones, vehicles, autonomous robots
  • Sensor-based systems for controlling and monitoring the crops.
  • Influencing the production of crops using IoT
  • Visualization, data analytics, and management systems

How’s IoT shaping the entire agricultural landscape?

With burgeoning technology, the internet of things is now the bedrock of making things more mellifluous in terms of transformation and scalability.

  • Tons of important data and analysis can improve the crop’s growth progress, soil quality, and cattle’s health. This data can also help to assess the business state, equipment efficiency, and staff performance.
  • With big data comes the better control over the internal process. Farmers can foresee the production output while planning for better product distribution. For example, if farmers know the amount of crop harvesting, they can hatch up on the next steps accordingly.
  • As farmers can see the crop growth anomalies, they can mitigate the risks of losing the yield.
  • Using smart devices can automate multiple processes like fertilizing, irrigation, and pest control.
  • Farmers can now gain better control over the production process, while maintaining high standards of crop quality. The growth capacity will also be increased.

Benefits of IoT in agriculture

The Internet of things has changed the entire landscape of agriculture. Everything has made the pathway smooth, from excelled efficiency to reduced manual labor. In turn, it can resonate better with the technology.

1. Increased food production

As we stated earlier, the increased number of populations may create an untoward situation. However, technology has shouldered the load by enabling IoT-based hydroponic systems and greenhouses. It can feed people with veggies and fresh fruits. With smart closed agricultural systems, food can grow anywhere. With this increased food production, food demand can be easily met.

2. Enhanced efficiency

In this fast-paced world, feeding humanity isn’t an easy task with the growing issues like economic breakdown, socio-political wars, and declining quality of nature. However, the internet of things allows farmers to control and monitor their products in real-time. Now, they can get the insights first to make informed decisions.

3. Clean process

IoT has enabled the reduction of the usage of fertilizers and pesticides. As it scales down the use of pesticides and fertilizer, it opens the path to make the farming greener. The final output can be more organic compared to traditional agricultural methods.

4. Increased agility

Enhanced agility has made the entire process less cumbersome. All the courtesy goes to real-time monitoring and prediction systems. Farmers now can respond to any significant changes. It may include air quality, humidity, weather, etc. Accordingly, they can make decisions that would be effective in the long term.

5. Better product quality

With data-driven agriculture, the output is now excellent. With drone monitoring, farm mapping, and sensors, farmers now have better control over situations. Also, the connected systems help them to recreate the best conditions for the best production.

Wrapping it up

Irrespective of the market condition, people need to eat and drink to maintain a balanced life. On that note, the internet of things has echoed the same thing the experts want to cater to the demands of agricultural needs. Yes, it’s a priority based on the given circumstances. Therefore, it can be said IoT has a promising feature that will drive the force of sustainability, scalability, and efficiency.

How GIS, GPS & Remote Sensing in Smart Farming Yielding New Growth

Posted on by Pony

The agriculture industry has drastically transformed since the inception of smart farming. As a boon of technology, machinery advances have taken place. It has expanded the speed, scale, and farm equipment productivity leading to efficient cultivation. Sensors may further build sustainability with accurate data, connectivity, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Amid these things, GIS and remote sensing play a pivotal role in smart farming, helping the entire agricultural industry grow fair and square.

According to research, smart farming and its implications can contribute to $2 trillion to $3 trillion in the value of global GDP in the upcoming years.

The ongoing pressure on the world population and the scarcity of water in the present time has already raised questions. Besides, an outbreak of COVID has created an untoward situation in terms of cost, energy, labor, etc. Since these are pressuring the profit margins, experts suggest implementing smart farming. In the form of efficient machinery, GIS and remote sensing can help the farmers by upgrading decision making, optimizing the yields, and taking better risks.

What is GIS & remote sensing in smart farming?

Since the agricultural revolution hit America and Europe in the 18th century, farming practices’ efficiency and effectiveness have increased drastically. Currently, GIS (Geographic information system) fuels the entire smart farming to yield the best results. With the use of GIS and GPS, farmers can quickly determine what they should implement during farming.

Geospatial technology collects data which enables the farmers to practical farming accordingly. To do the same efficiently, an advanced technology has been introduced. On that note, remote sensing is doing a great job dividing large farms into management zones. To satisfy the specific requirement of each zone, GIS & GPS is there to serve as per requirement.

How GPS & remote sensing are helping the farmers?

Most agricultural scientists are focusing on GIS & remote sensing due to its benefits. With real-time analysis and weather forecast, monitoring floods and crop area, etc., GPS & remote sensing are helping farmers implement smart farming technologies. Here are the benefits-

1. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)

This is mainly used for accessing the vegetation dynamics and crop health status. Applying NDVI helps escalate the crop chronology and their significant relationship with climate and weather. The satellite image contains the spectral brands. By mathematically calculating the spectral bands, vegetation healthiness can be measured. Also, it is interwoven with green biomass, which indicates healthy vegetation.

2. Properties of soil

In farm management practices, soil properties are essential as they directly relate to yield output. Frequent change in land management and farming system results in soil change. It compromises the future and current capacity of primary production. As soil is an essential agricultural aspect, including soil organic matter, pH, and texture, it provides information about soil conditions.

Conversely, the availability of water content within the soil is also a very crucial factor. By doing soil moisture mapping, it can be measured.

3. Identification of crop disease

Remote sensing technology enables the spatial distribution to get the disease information. Not only that, but it also provides information about the pests over a large area. Spatial analysis and satellite imagery techniques can detect crop infected areas and pests. It will also help to give an overview of the infected areas.

4. Monitoring of crop sown areas

Remote sensing plays a significant role in monitoring the crop sown area effectively. With the voluminous satellite data, crop loss assessment and other issues can be detected that are caused due to various catastrophic disasters. Also, the data estimates the sown area of various vegetables and crops.

5. Analysis of drone image

In micro level crop assessment, drone image plays a pivotal role. Due to natural disasters and crop diseases, farmers don’t yield the desired output. The drone data related to spatial resolution can provide the actual high-resolution image. It may range from 50cm, with an option to increase the same accordingly.

How are sensors influencing smart farming?

Sensors in smart farming and their usage help to acquire system and environmental metrics to make information-based decisions. Sensors have changed the approach of crop farming or intelligent farming.

Types of sensors

  • Mechanical sensors
  • Optical sensors
  • Electrochemical sensors
  • Location sensors
  • Airflow sensors

1. Enhanced efficiency

The sensors allow the farmers to reveal their products and situations. Also, farmers get insights fast. Based on that, they can make knowledgeable choices regarding irrigation, robotic harvesting, and fertilizing.

2. Accelerated agility

As the IoT sensors have excelled in agility, it augments real-time tracking, structure prediction, climate prediction, etc. Therefore, new skills help the agricultural experts keep the plants during difficult odd situations.

3. Improved production

The digital transformation of agriculture accentuates the data-based actions in farming. By enabling higher production and maintaining quality, farmers can recognize the dependencies. Thanks to IoT-based sensors as it provides related structures. It helps to recreate first-rate situations and grow the dietary price too.

4. Tracking crops

Sensors can track crop fitness which requires precipitation, humidity, temperature and other significant parameters. If any deviations occur, farmers can also discover the same in advance. Based on that, they can take relevant actions.

Final words

The influence of GPS & remote sensors is undeniable to satisfy the global demand for food supply. It makes the entire farming easier and smooth. Also, it can adapt to various converting environmental situations. Therefore, the entire agricultural industry can lionize the benefits to the farmers. Therefore, the demand for crop supply can be faced without any hindrance in the future.

5 Challenges Farmers are Facing while Adopting Smart Farming (Plus effective solutions)

Posted on by Pony

It’s undeniable that adopting IoT helps the agricultural industry to reap various benefits. Its successful implementation has turned passive followers of smart farming into raving fans. Still, there are a few challenges faced by the farmers and the crop industry too.

According to a report, the earth’s population may reach 9.7 billion people. This same thing can considerably increase the demand for food. Smart farming can meet the demands while being productive and efficient but the challenges of working with the technology are discouraging the farmers significantly.

Let’s take a cursory look at the challenges. Before that, we would like you to go through the brief on smart agriculture technologies.

What is smart farming?

By using modern information and communication, smart farming can increase the quality and quantity of the products, while optimizing human labor. For present-day farmers, there are various technologies available like software, sensors, location, data analytics, robotics, software, etc. Armed with the latest innovations, farmers can make strategic decisions and monitor field conditions at the same time.

Software  Specialized software solutions related to IoT platforms 
Location  Satellite, GPS  
Connectivity  Cellular 
Robotics  Autonomous tractors 
Data analytics  Data pipelines, standalone analytics solutions 

Sensors 

 Humidity, water, soil, temperature management 

Challenges faced by the farmers during implementing smart farming

Actual growth and significant proliferation sometimes don’t perform robustly as expected. With several challenges involved, farmers and the entire agricultural sector faces many hindrances. Here we go-

1. Technical failures

With the dependability of burgeoning technology, it’s imaginable what benefits can be reaped from there. However, mechanical breakdown or malfunction may lead to serious crop damage. For instance, if the smart irrigation sensors are down, then it can cause an overwatered or underwatered situation. Even a power failure may cause devastating consequences if no power backup is available.

2. Risk of energy depletion

How smart agriculture is advantageous and how farmers can reap benefits from the same has already been explored in several articles. However, the requirement of powerful data centers and gateways for the operation of intelligent sensors may lead to high energy consumption. To replenish the energy, more resources are required.

Besides, new agricultural IoT tools also affect the energy sector. Most companies have already taken their first step to focus on farming technology platforms that don’t cause energy depletion.

3. Indoor farming challenge

For outdoor farming, precision agriculture has its own methods and resources. With the current research and studies, experts proposed to focus more on indoor farming. Issues like daily climatic fluctuations and changes in the season need to be considered while gearing up with indoor farming methods. Also, the nutritional values should not be affected in any situation while indoor farming. Farmers must learn how to rely on technology while creating a growing environment.

4. Manual employment

After the outbreak of COVID-19, many workers have already lost their jobs. Few companies have decided to lay off the employees in order to cut down the expenditure. With its immediate effect, the agricultural industry has also faced the consequences. Additionally, IoT and its automation process lead to the loss of jobs. It already raised dissatisfaction among the workers.

Absorbing the workforce seems not to be fully functional yet. Farmers need to be well-trained and responsive to the new technology to do that effectively. In that way, new technology can be implemented more smartly.

5. Lack of infrastructure

As poor communication infrastructure is still there in a few remote areas, farmers of those areas cannot able to adopt IoT technology. Internet is the bedrock for establishing solid virtual communication, which is mandatory for smart farming. From advanced monitoring systems to crop yielding, a strong internet connection and its importance cannot be undermined.

Solutions

 

  • Remote monitoring– Using the latest smart technologies, remote control and monitoring on all plants can help the farmers get instant notifications for the fields/crops. Accordingly, they can address the issues immediately.
  • Automated adaptation on plant irrigation– Automated adaptation and its similar processes depending on weather forecast may lead to better optimization. In turn, there would be better utilization rates and resources.

 

Opportunities of smart farming

With the challenges, the scope of smart farming and its implementation is a cakewalk for the farmers, and the entire agricultural industry. With IoT, there are two significant ways to revolutionize agriculture. It includes farming automation and precision farming.

Precision farming

It’s an IoT-based approach that makes farming more accurate and controlled. Machines enabled with superhuman accuracy can precisely control the plants and cattle. The decision of farming using these machines is made per square meter/ per plant or animal rather than the field.

Precision livestock farming

With smart farming techniques, farmers can monitor the needs of animals, while adjusting their nutrition accordingly. In turn, it prevents disease and enhances herd health.

Agricultural drones

With drones, it is now possible to collect thermal, visual, and multispectral imagery while providing farmers with valuable insights. It includes plant counting and yield prediction, plant height measurement, stockpile measuring, nitrogen content in wheat, drainage mapping, etc. Based on the analysis, farmers can make the necessary decisions.

Wrapping it up

Smart farming can deliver a more sustainable and productive form of agricultural production. However, once the farmers become accustomed to the challenges and their significant solutions, the entire purpose of smart farming will be served as the eternal dream of mankind. In the upcoming days, it will feed our entire population. Needless to say, an excellent pursuit for an eco-friendly, sustainable nature.

5 Advantages of Smart Farming

Posted on by Pony

Smart farming technologies are the future of agriculture. It allows farmers to be more efficient and productive while using fewer resources. Compared to conventional farming, smart farming can help farmers increase their yields, reduce their costs, and improve their environmental stewardship. On this note, let’s look at how smart farming opportunities can transform agriculture:

It increases their yields:

Traditional farming practices often yield lower crop yields due to pests and poor soil fertility. These new technologies helps farmers overcome these challenges using precision agriculture techniques. Precision agriculture is a farming management system that uses modern technologies to optimize activities such as planting, irrigation, and crop scouting. It is among the most revolutionary smart farming benefits.

Reducing their costs:

Farming is a capital-intensive industry, and farmers often incur high costs for inputs such as seeds, fertilizer, and fuel. Smart farming technologies like Farm Management Information System (FMIS) can help farmers reduce costs by improving input management and decision-making.

FMIS is a software application that provides farmers real-time information about their crops, soils, weather, and market prices. This information can help farmers decide when to plant, how to irrigate, and what inputs to use.

Improved environmental stewardship:

Farming is often associated with environmental degradation, but smart farming promotes more sustainable farming. For example, some precision agriculture systems include geo-fencing, a technology that prevents farm machinery from straying into protected areas. It can help farmers avoid accidental deforestation and soil erosion.

In addition, smart irrigation systems can help farmers reduce water usage, and some smart farming technologies helps generate renewable energy. Moreover, many smart farming solutions are designed to be carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative.

Less human errors:

Section control farmers can benefit from removing the human errors that are bound to happen when dealing with large farmland areas. The technology does this by precision mapping the field, which is then used to guide farm machinery. It ensures that crops are planted correctly and at the correct depth, preventing seed losses due to incorrect planting.

In addition, section control can be used to prevent crop damage from herbicides and pesticides. By only applying these chemicals to the areas that need them, farmers can reduce chemical usage, saving money and protecting the environment.

Data collection and analysis:

Farmers can easily collect data about their crops, soils, and weather conditions using Internet of Things devices. This data can be used to improve farm management decisions. For example, yield maps can be used to understand which areas of a field yield more or less than others. This information can help farmers adjust their inputs and management practices accordingly.

In addition, data collected by smart farming technologies can be used to improve crop breeding programs. By understanding the conditions under which a particular variety of crops performs well, breeders can develop new types that are better adapted to specific situations.

Wrapping up!

These are some of the many advantages of smart farming. As you can see, smart farming technologies have the potential to transform agriculture, making it more efficient, sustainable, and profitable. If you’re a farmer or farm manager, consider investing in smart farming solutions to improve your operations.

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