Experts have long sought to improve food and agricultural practices using advanced sensors and wireless data transfer technologies. However, the progress has been slowed by persistent challenges around crop and food quality monitoring.
Challenges in Utilizing Sensor Technology
Sensors have introduced a wide variety of instruments for food and agriculture. These include sensors for detecting soil moisture levels, pathogens in food, and the release of volatile organic compounds by plants under stress. Since these sensors help advance spoilage or disease detection, they enable timely solutions for various challenges.
When these sensors are integrated with Internet of Things platforms, they enable real-time monitoring and data analysis, enhancing the efficiency of agricultural practices. However, handheld and other portable devices remain limited since tedious laboratory-based tests dominate current agriculture and food production chains. This leads to significant delays from when the samples are obtained until crucial decisions can be made, resulting in lower yields, food waste, and environmental impacts.
Food industry tools are getting cheaper and more mobile, yet the end users still struggle with serious automation deficits when integrating sensor data. Problems in crop management are usually spotted when it is too late to use new microbiome management techniques, which can otherwise solve issues at early stages.
Potential innovations outside the agriculture sector have opened new possibilities. Breakthroughs in manufacturing that support wearable sensors for healthcare are currently being adapted for veterinary and agricultural applications. If paired with wireless networks and cloud data analysis by the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, mounted instruments can enable constant crop monitoring at the source.
Internet of Things-Based Agriculture
In a recent study entitled "Internet of Things-Enabled Food and Plant Sensors to Empower Sustainability," a team of Indian researchers present a comprehensive review of the deployment of high-performance sensors to improve plant growth and food quality. It also discusses the application of IoT-enabled sensors, which can empower farmers through predictive analytics.
The experts, led by Muthumanickam Dhanaraju, developed durable, flexible, nanofabricated sensor strips that can be directly stuck onto livestock, produce, and key infrastructure. The integration of wireless connectivity allows peel-and-stick monitors to deliver biomarker information straight to the cloud without shuffling data.
As the flood of field data streams in, AI algorithms process them to distill insights and alert managers through apps. This technique prevents "data fatigue" typically encountered by farmers who receive heaps of sensor readings. Meanwhile, hands-free analysis avoids wasted time from attempting to interpret overwhelming reports.
In using this technology, however, it is necessary to consider its effects on labor markets and its accessibility for small-scale farmers. The sustainable evolution of agriculture depends on balanced technological advancement with social and economic equity.
With the fall of barriers in farming, food, and agriculture, they seemed headed for transformation through applied technology. Instead of relying on educated guesses from limited manual samples, continuous fine-grained field data offers true precision around growing and distribution. Since the technology is still in its early stages, the researchers advise more integration work ahead.
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