16 Jun Smart Agriculture: benefits, trends & implementation

The population of our planet is increasing more and more over the years, and this is a problem for some factors of our lives. The space for housing, the mobility or the supply of food, are some of them. Today, we are going to focus the problem on the latter. We can say that one of the basis of food is agriculture, this is why we want to present the concept: Smart Agriculture.

What does Smart Agriculture mean?.

Smart Agriculture or Smart Farming, is a new way to operating in the agricultural sector. Is the answer or the solution to the problems ocasionated by a bad way of using the natural resources and the risks that exist nowadays working with them. So, to solve it, we add the new technologies to agricultural area.

We incorporate the last technological innovations with the objective of optimize resources and take better decisions thanks to the information that we get from them.

The problem of current agriculture, apart from the need to increase the production, is the fact that there is less and less space to grow.

Through the application of this technology, it is possible to optimize the soil and natural resources.

In short, Smart Agriculture is the seat of techniques and technologies that make corp production possible in the future.

Is estimated that, in USA, 60 – 80% of farmers use this technology. In Europe, however, this figure doesn’t reach 24%, something that we have to change.

Benefits of Smart Farming.

Increase rentability.

The use of new technologies in cultivation, makes it possible to reduce the cost of resources such as water, energy or fertilisers, and also facilitates a significant increase in the quantity of kilos produced and a higher quality.

Absolute control over all crop-relate areas.

Thanks to the progress that smart agriculture brings with it, we have more and more information about what happens in the crop process and this improve decision-making.

Improves our quality life.

Improve the quality of live of the people carrying out their tasks in the agricultural sector. In this way, the time spent for cultivation can be optimized by incorporating tools that facilitate the control easily and at a distante without the need to be present in the area.

Automation.

New technologies allow the automation of many of the aspects involved in agricultural production. This means a great saving in rime and costs.

Sustainability and environment.

New intelligent farming solutions are characterized by being highly sustainable. In this way, taking into account the impact it can have on the environment and seeking to reduce it by contributing to more sustainable and efficient production processes.

2021 Smart Agriculture Trends.

Smart Agriculture is characterized by constant innovation. Although in recent years we have seen major changes, more and more new developments have appeared. Actually, the technologies we are going to see below, are made to work together and provide the best possible development of our crops.

IoT Devices.

Internet of Things is one of the main technologies of Smart Agriculture.

Nowadays, more than ever, Internet is an important part of human life and of all areas of work. Agriculture and livestock farming are not exception.

Within the concept of Smart Agriculture, we also find the conectivity of our ranch. This involves the integration of a network of sensors that will help us to make a complex analysis of how our production unit is and make it easier for us to collect information.

IoT Devices are crucial to the proper functioning of our intelligent crops. They collect data that are transmitted by and analytical tool for analysis where the agronomist or production manager can then make sound data-based decisions.

In addition, we can find apps that allow remote control of different elements involved in the process of growing, advanced software for the control and management of the production process, GPS-guided machinery that can be controlled even from a smartphone, etc.

Automation and process vision in real time, are great benefits for the correct development of our crops.

Big Data.

Big Data is another of the fundamental technologies. Agriculture has also begun to incorporate increasingly advanced tools to extract data, statistics, figures, etc. From this, we can draw conclusions and define which type of agriculture is the most productive in order to meet future needs.

Robotics and Drones.

The incorporation of robots and drones into cultivation in order to extract data of high quality and reliability is increasing. These drones offer constant monitoring and continuous observation, help detect possible problems such as pest control, and may even foresee possible plant diseases.

Artificial Intelligence.

The field of Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly importat worldwide. In agriculture, it seeks the constant development of tools that help manage the crop and can make predictions of weather conditions that will influence it in order to implement much more effective and adapted systems.

Implementation methods.

Let’s see which factors should be taken into account in order to implement Smart Farming in our crops.

Cultivation monitoring.

This is a vital activity for proper monitoring of the growth process of our crops, since this can become an exhausting task if it is done manually.

A way to make this easier, is with the help of various sensors to know parameters that interest us, like temperature, light changes, humidity, fertility, etc. These sensors, in turn, help us to detect factors that may affect the appearence of pests and diseases.

So, if we get a good monitoring of our crops, using new technologies, we will be able to get strong production.

Environment conditions.

Another of the incredible functions of remote sensors in agriculture, is the ones responsible for monitoring environmental conditions in our crops.

Data collected by sensors, such as humidity, maximun and minimum temperature, rainfall or dew point, help determine the climate and microclimate pattern of our production unit. So, we can carry out the best possible planning adapted to each crop and region.

Soil quality.

Knowing the fertility characteristics of our soil, help us to determine its real nutritional value as well as its ability to house the agricultural crops that interest us, or in other cases, to be able to adjust it to produce any crop through special nutritition plans.

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