How The Internet of Things (IoT) Key To Future of Farming

Demands of food supply are increasing as the world population is soaring, with each passing day. As per latest reports, it has been found that world population will hit 9.6 billion by 2050. And a great chunk of the population will be residing in the cities and urban areas. To cater to the food requirements of the entire world population, food production has to increase by almost 70%. It is needless to say that this is a huge percentage. For increasing food production, there is a need for improvement of precision farming and this is possible when technology is integrated with farming and agriculture.

Venture capitalists are showing great interests in agricultural and food startup investments. In fact, many agencies are raising funds so that they can help farmers by delivering various kinds of apps for increasing their profitability and productivity with crops which bring in more revenues. There is a very interesting fact associated with the farming industry off late. The Internet of Things innovation is being implemented in many industries and farming is one of the most fertile areas where the innovations are used in an expansive manner. Large scale adoption of IoT innovation is guaranteed in the food and agriculture industry.

Internet of Things in Farming

4 Ways in Which Internet of Things Has Helped in Farming and Agriculture:

1. Pest Control

It is quite sad to note that lots of crops and agricultural products get wasted with pest infestations. Farmers are also becoming more and more conscious and adopting organic and natural means to protect and save their crops from pests. Great alternatives of chemical pesticides and insecticides have been found and majority of agriculture and food industries are shifting to the organic mode.

Pheromones are being used to counter the harmful effects of pesticides. Interestingly, when these are paired with IoT power, they bring amazing results. Wireless sensor networks are set, which help in monitoring pest counts. The sensor detects the population of the pests and gives a signal when it starts increasing beyond limits and has reached danger levels. The pheromone delivery system is immaculately measured and gets activated automatically, resulting in disruption of mating patterns of pests. As a result, the need for use of pesticides is minimized and in some cases not necessary at all. Along with protecting the crops, this system helps in environment protection and conservation as well.

2. Increased Productivity

The concept of precision agriculture utilizes analytic for optimizing any kind of farming decision. This is proving to be a great opportunity for Internet of Things innovation. Cultivators target to maximize yield of crops from every acre of land, which is dedicated to the production of food crops. Understandably the process has become more complex than previously as the demands of cultivation are increasing with each passing day.

With Internet of Things innovation, crop yields can be maximized with cloud connected systems and wireless technology. It is also possible to automate agricultural operations, which take place on a daily basis. With data analysis and real time monitoring, it is possible to take and make smart decisions on day to day basis as well as on season to season basis. Leading technology companies of the world manufacture connected equipments, which help in leveraging GPS. Also with electronic controls and regular monitoring, farmers can continuously analyze the situation and improve performance accordingly.

IoT for Better Crops

3. Conservation Techniques

Water shortage is one of the main hindrances of farming and this problem is felt in one way or other all over the world. One of the ways of dealing with this problem is by having extensive technical knowledge about irrigation systems. This includes mastery and collection of complex data and working on the same effectively. For responding effectively to drought conditions, farmers need to have real time and precise information about minimizing water wastage, proactively manage water costs and preventing over and under use of water for farming.

And it is at this point that Internet of Things software comes into play. With soil monitoring systems like Observant and Smart Watering Systems and embedded wireless devices in the software, farmers can do many things. For instance, they can manage energy usage more efficiently, they can measure soil moisture, and they can detect water leaks and so on. And the best thing is that all these happen in real-time.

4. Providing Continual Value

It is understandable that farmers mainly concentrate on the results and crop yields in real time. If that is not obtained, nothing matters to them really. And this is where Internet of Things innovation excels. It helps in delivering products and services which add incremental value all through the product life-cycle. In fact new features and functionalities are continuously being added to the tools to improve their overall impact.

Farmer

Global Impact of Internet of Things Innovation on Farming

Constant research and development is being done on the use and implementation of Internet of Things innovation and technology on farming and agriculture. In fact innumerable countries across the globe have already implemented the technology in agricultural fields and reaping great benefits from the same. Along with concentrating on precision agriculture, the technology also helps in monitoring and controlling indoor farming, arable farming, fish farming, livestock monitoring, management of farm vehicles, storage control, and forestry and so on. There is no doubt about the fact that Internet of Things innovation and technology is the key to the future of farming. Implementing the same is sure to bring great results in the future.