Smart Farming- The road to a sustainable agriculture future!

We have witnessed a lot of technological revolutions in all the major industries. But the main goal behind all this has always been the same… Increased Production & Production Quality!  

As we make bigger technological strides towards fulfilling our needs, we cannot forget the most basic and the most challenging need of all… Our Food!  Agriculture needs to be the first industry that benefits from all these advances. We are growing rapidly as a species. We are a population of over 7 billion, and are on a track to reach approx. 10 billion by 2050. We are already facing overall food shortages, and that problem is only beginning to amplify! 

Are we preparing ourselves for the future? 

The solution already exists! 

The latest breakthroughs in the industrial technology 4.0 revolution has created new opportunities for every agricultural machinery manufacturer.  With technologies like IoT [Internet of Things], artificial intelligence, machine learning & data sensing, manufacturers are now able to design more advanced and precise machinery for efficient and hassle-free farming. 

This gave rise to something far more effective than the machines itself… 

Smart Farming!   

Simply put, smart farming is the implementation of these technologies with the use of specialized hardware and software, all together to make farming and farm management totally autonomous. The goal here is to ramp up crop production drastically, with least amount of manpower involved. 

How it’s done?

The biggest invention since the tractor is here! John Deere thinks that Smart Farming will be the miracle our farms desperately need.   More crop production, Higher yield quality and lesser wastage of resources.  All this made possible by an interconnected system in place that is capable of performing any and every action like watering, seeding, soil health monitoring and harvesting, in the most precise manner. 

Precision Farming

Precision farming simply means that the crops get precisely the attention and treatment they need, using great accuracy. Unlike the conventional manual method, this approach allows decisions to be made per square meter or even per plant, rather than implementing generic decisions for the entire field. 

Using advanced sensing techniques, seeds can be sowed at precise depths for an optimal harvest. Watering can be done in accurate quantities, creating ideal conditions for the crop to grow

By precisely measuring variations within a field, farmers can also boost the effectiveness of pesticides and fertilizers, or use them selectively in certain areas.

But the next step gets even more interesting… 

Farm management! 

An interconnected farm management system can be made possible today by IoT Technology! A concept under which various devices, sensors and machines work autonomously, and exchange data over a central network.   

Various types of data are collected using different sensors. Soil health, atmospheric conditions, seed health etc.  The data is then analysed by pre-defined softwares in real-time to automatically initiate alerts for the farmers or actions for autonomous machines. 

This is what a typical IoT based Farm Management cycle looks like

Observation — Sensors record observational data 

Analysis — The sensor values are fed to specific software with predefined decision rules to examine the object for any deficiencies or needs.

Decision — After issues are revealed, the software determines whether location-specific treatment is necessary and if so, what kind.

Execution — The treatment needs to be performed by means of the correct operation of machines.

This cycle is just the crux of what happens in an automated farming setting. Every Farm equipment supplier today is planning to develop custom and affordable farming solutions, by collaborating with various tech companies. John Deere believes that the potential for any manufacturer is limitless, as we have an amazing opportunity at hand to set new production standards in agriculture and benchmark crop quality.  The path to sustainable agricultural future has begun and with newer breakthroughs, it is only about to get more fascinating.