Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Applied Technology Review
Smart Agriculture _Applying Technology to Your Barns
Agriculture must move toward a digital transformation based on connectivity to counter the forces that could further disrupt the industry.
By
Applied Technology Review | Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on
the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your
inbox. Subscribe today.
“Using innovative agriculture machinery, sensors and remote control can be operated to drive tractors and machines anytime and from anywhere.”
Fremont CA: Advances in machinery have expanded farm equipment's scale, speed, and productivity, leading to more efficient cultivation of more land. Seeds, irrigation, and fertiliser are also greatly improved, allowing farmers to increase yields. Agriculture is now at the dawn of another revolution driven by data and connectivity. Artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, connected sensors, and other emerging technologies further increase yields and improve the efficiency of water and other inputs, thus building better sustainability and resilience across crop cultivation.
Agriculture must move toward a digital transformation based on connectivity to counter the forces that could further disrupt the industry. However, agriculture remains un-digitised compared to many other industries in the world. Past advances were primarily mechanical, in the form of more powerful and efficient machinery, and genetic, in more productive seed and fertiliser. Now, much more sophisticated digital tools are needed to deliver the next productivity leap. Some of them already exist to help farmers use their resources more efficiently and efficiently, while more advanced ones are under development. These new technologies can upgrade decision making, allowing better risk and variability management to optimise yields and improve economics.
For instance, AI and low-emission machinery can enable better optimisation in production and the development of climate-resilient crops. In addition, a fruit sorting robot that tracks crop growth stages to maturity, size and optimal harvest time could help farmers maximise yields.
Besides, farm management platforms can further assist in tracking daily activities to improve production capacity. IoT systems utilise soil and weather sensors to provide insights that can be processed into appropriate decisions. In addition, they help farmers to minimise pest disturbances by providing timely data insights. Using innovative agriculture machinery, sensors and remote control can be operated to drive tractors and machines anytime and from anywhere. These are only some examples of how the farming industry is leveraging technology to unlock its full potential.
Agriculture, one of the world’s earliest industries, finds itself at a technological crossroads. To successfully handle rising demand and several disruptive trends, the industry will need to overcome the challenges of deploying advanced digitalisation. This will require significant investment in infrastructure and a realignment of traditional roles. It is a vast but critical undertaking. The success and sustainability of one of the planet’s earliest industries may well depend on this technology metamorphosis, and those that embrace it at the outset may be best positioned to thrive in agriculture’s digitally-driven future.