Increasing the amount of yields produced per acre and per farmer, and reducing input costs per acre is the headache that is biting many growers in the industry. We combined a list of ten technologies that we believe are critical in productivity at this century.
- Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is becoming common and a basic tool in agriculture. Remote sensing is being used to monitor crops and livestock. The farmer can tell the current condition of the crop, if it needs water, or may be its infested by pests, or it needs fertilizer and any other stress that the crop might be facing. This helps the farmer to act with precision – since the key problem has been identified making farm maintenance an easy task. Insurance firms are also employing this technique to access claims to cover any crop damage since they can monitor productivity and find solution to different problems within the same farm.
- Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering technologies, like CRISPR genome editing, has enabled the modification of living organisms in different specific ways. The technology is used to come up with superior strains of livestock and crops which produce better yields and more resistance to difficult conditions. The ability to plant genetic modified crops to fight with pests and drought reduces hunger, while increasing availability of food and better economy.
- Agricultural Robots
Agricultural robots have had enormous potential to transform the industry. The use of robots to process, plant and harvest grains has made the process more efficient and easier to perform. Theses robots are efficient in both large and small scale making them ideal in feeding the world’s growing population. Moreover, robots are critical in monitoring plant health and growth of the crops. Further there are efforts to use smaller robots for the same purpose, to swarm the farms and monitor the crops.
- Drones
The use of drones in farming activities have certainly gone up. Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles can be used for a variety of tasks in agriculture. They ensure that farm costs are lowered while efficiency and productivity are maximized. One of the main uses of drones is soil analysis. Drones take aerial 3-D pictures of the soil to determine moisture and nutrient levels. The pictures can also show the development and growth of the plants on the field. Further, they can be used for crop spraying, crop monitoring and planting. They can also be used for irrigation or application of fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides and herbicides.
- Vertical Cultivating
The increasing population has made it difficult to find just enough arable space on which to grow food. There is a lot of unused space in many countries, but they are not good for farming. This implies that arable lands are scarce. Farming vertically is one way of creating more space for farming – this method is common in Japan which is considered as a small country. Here, crops are grown in buildings that are multi-storey or skyscrapers with artificial lighting or vertical greenhouses. This trend is expected to continue with urbanization and global population continue to exponentially increase.
- Data for the people
There are quite a number of both cutting edge hardware and software and even online advisory services for farmers and agribusiness organizations throughout the world. Just by using the phone or tablet, the farmer has wide access to very useful data that are historic and even forecasts. Weather patterns, crop yields, and growing conditions are some of the data sets that may be available. These data sets create efficiency and accuracy in farming activities.
- Connected water
Worldwide, agriculture consumes about 70 percent of all fresh water. However, around 60 percent of this water is wasted. Smart systems ensure that this is mitigated by warning farmers of leaks and equipment failure. By doing so, it enables them o remotely control water pumps.
- Electric fish
Producers of Atlantic salmon, Marine Harvest, are providing network services that are boosting collaboration while at the same time improve production. A secure video monitoring tool will used to monitor fish production so as to manage all aspects of fishing activity
- Hail, the connected cow
Connected livestock wearables are the trend right now. These tools have impact on Livestock and fisheries management. They help in monitoring the health conditions and tracking locations. Pregnant cattle or even the milking frequency and diseases or such symptoms.
- Farm management systems
There is a number of precision/smart farming systems that play key role in improving farming activities such as production processes and give guide to improve such processes. Input usage can be tracked and optimized to reduce wastage. Other features are inventory management and weather monitoring among others.
Final Verdict
Human civilization have no much time left – and thus, tools that are increasing efficiency, reduce wastage and saves time will be embraced as times goes by.