Hi-tech innovations facilitate human labor in many spheres eliminating time and efforts to complete multiple tasks. Advanced agrarians widely employ digital tools, equipment, and techniques that promote precision farming.
Modern technologies allow managing and optimizing various aspects of field activities as well as riping good harvests with reduced inputs. They include satellite imagery, drones, field sensors, smart machinery, robotics, agricultural software and applications to monitor and process the retrieved information, and many more. They give actors of the ag sector first-hand experience even without their physical presence in the field and suggest the most accurate and productive solutions in the farming business.
Let's outline the most popular and inefficient technologies recognized and implemented by present-day crop producers.
When hi-tech merges with agriculture
The first and foremost innovation of the modern world, enabling all the other novelties, is the internet and mobile connection. Developed in the last century, it has a considerable impact on everyone's life and is its indispensable part. While one can hardly imagine their daily routine without internet, Wi-Fi, or smartphone, all present-day science and technology discoveries base on their usage.
1. Field sensors measure soil moisture, air temperature, fertilization and PH levels, and other parameters that are vital for plant growth. These gauges are installed immediately in the field and give data regarding each particular spot of land. So, the more devices you deploy, the more accurate information you achieve.
2. Satellites observe our planet's surface within established periods. They either take pictures with a camera or scan the Earth with infrared (IR), near-infrared (NIR), and water vapor sensitive radars. They cover vast areas, and access to their data is often free. These advantages compensate relatively low resolutions of spatial imagery.
3. Drones film farms in real time with a closer look. At the same time, they require a licensed operator and have a restricted area of usage. For example, UAVs must not fly near strategic objects like airports or military bases. On the other hand, they are quite mobile and can settle off immediately to explore the location in question.
4. Robots replace humans in completing multiple tasks. They are smart enough in weeding or harvesting: artificial intelligence distinguishes weeds from cultivated species and ripe fruits from unripe ones. This agricultural technology includes other illustrative cases as well.
5. Smart machinery has GPS/GIS systems. It is driverless and programmed to pass a precise trajectory from point A to point B performing certain operations. This function helps to avoid overlapped or missed swaths, excluding human errors in sowing, fertilizing, irrigation, etc. Besides, such equipment films the field, enabling to estimate multiple parameters. The following article highlights how self-steering agricultural machines simplify and improve crop production.
6. Agricultural software (tools and apps) give farmers a comprehensive analysis of what is happening in the field. Yet, the idea of the current situation is not the sole advantage. Most applications offer a free trial, and numerous benefits justify the subscription fees. Their features include:
- weather precipitations and current conditions;
- historical data on the selected region;
- vegetation indices and plant growth stages;
- field zoning;
- soil moisture measurements;
- crop rotation charts;
- prompt alerts on critical issues;
- recommendations as to the most advantageous time to start field activities;
- fertilizing calculations;
- irrigation schedules;
- scouting apps.
7. Cloud platforms are used for database storage only or provide data interpretation and analytics. Cloud solutions help agrarians save on hardware and are secure enough to guarantee data safety to users.
Digital agriculture: benefits and drawbacks
Some achievements cannot find unanimous support as their positive impact is dubious if not dangerous for human health. Genetically modified organisms (GMO) serve as a notorious example of such researches. Thus, some plants spray herbicides and insecticides similar to organic ones, successfully combating infestations. However, even though such modifications prove better resistance to pests and weather extremities, most people restrain from applying them.
Yet, there are hundreds of hi-tech technologies that are worth implementing. They eliminate farmers' efforts and inputs, give accurate and timely data, suggest competent solutions, and facilitate many activities of the agricultural business.
These gifts of the digital world provide benefits to crop producers as they allow:
- To save time, enabling to analyze crop development and field conditions even without driving out to the farm.
- To reduce cost inputs and get better yields.
- To automate many agricultural processes, and thus are efficient and convenient.
Here a question arises if digital devices can replace human labor completely. A keen reader will find an answer in a study that mentions the first case of the kind. Machinery managed to grow and harvest yields with no workers in the field in 2017.
Modern technologies are beneficial to agrarians. Without a physical presence in the field, farmers can monitor their lands any moment from any internet-connected device at hand.
Therefore, hi-tech novelties are certainly worth employing, even despite considerable cost inputs at times.