Smart Farming: What it is? and The Future of Agriculture

The IoT has opened up possibilities for advancement in about every market conceivable. In addition to streamlining once laborious processes, the Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing our perspective on farming. However, can you define a smart farm for me? An explanation of “smart farming” and its impact on the food industry is presented here.

What is a smart farm?

“Smart farming” operates farms with the use of current ICTs to maximize output with little human effort, both in terms of quantity and quality.

Modern farmers can take advantage of a variety of technology, including:

• Environmental sensors: grass, rain, sun, humidity, and temperature
• Software: application-agnostic Internet of Things (IoT) platforms or tailored software solutions for particular kinds of farms
• Link: mobile phone, LoRa
• Where: Global Positioning System, Satellite
• Robotics: Self-driving tractors, industrial robots
• Data analytics: data pipelines for subsequent solutions, and analytics that stand alone

With these devices, farmers can keep an eye on the field and make decisions about the farm as a whole or just one plant without ever having to set foot in it.

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects machinery and sensors installed on farms to automate and data-driven farming activities. This is the main driver behind smart farming.

Read More:  Smart Agriculture: A Farmer’s Guide to IoT Solutions In 2024

The IoT-Based Smart Farming Cycle

Data collected from objects and sent over the internet is the backbone of the Internet of Things (IoT). Internet of Things (IoT) devices set up on a farm should gather and process data in a loop that lets farmers respond fast to new problems and changes in the environment if they want to maximize farming efficiency. Smart farming follows an analogous cycle:

1. Notation‌. Soil, weather, crop, and livestock sensors collect observational data.

2. Diagnosis. A cloud-hosted IoT platform receives the sensor readings and uses them in conjunction with established decision rules and models, sometimes referred to as “business logic,” to determine the object’s condition and pinpoint any shortcomings or requirements.

3. choices. To determine if location-specific therapy is required, the user and/or the IoT platform’s machine learning-driven components evaluate the identified concerns.

4. Take action. The loop begins anew following the end-user’s assessment and action.

Smart Solutions to Agriculture’s Problems

A lot of people think that the Internet of Things can improve farming in general, from planting trees to harvesting crops. Precision farming and agricultural automation are two of the most significant ways in which the Internet of Things (IoT) can transform the agricultural industry.

Precision Farming

Under the broader term of “precision farming” or “precision agriculture,” methods that rely on the Internet of Things (IoT) to improve agricultural accuracy are considered. Put another way, machines with superhuman precision decide the exact amount of therapy that plants and cattle need. In contrast to the traditional method, which takes judgments at the field level, precision farming allows for decision-making on a per-square-meter or even per-plant/animal basis.

Farmers can improve the efficacy of pesticides and fertilizers or apply them selectively by accurately assessing differences within a field.

Precision Livestock Farming

Smart farming techniques, similar to precision agriculture, allow farmers to better track the nutritional demands of specific animals and make adjustments as needed, which improves herd health and reduces the likelihood of disease.

Large-scale farmers can use wireless Internet of Things technologies to track the whereabouts, condition, and health of a herd’s cattle. They can use this data to isolate ill animals from the rest of the herd and stop the spread of disease.

Automation in Smart Greenhouses

Production loss, energy loss, and increased labor expenses are common outcomes of traditional greenhouse control methods, which include either proportional control mechanisms or manual intervention to regulate environmental parameters.

The Internet of Things (IoT) enables smart greenhouses to autonomously monitor and regulate environmental conditions, doing away with the need for human involvement. Depending on the needs of the crop, several sensors are set up to measure different environmental conditions. For additional processing and control with minimal human involvement, that data is saved on a cloud-based platform.

Agricultural Drones

Drones, both ground-based and aerial, are finding widespread use in many industries, including agriculture, where they may help with tasks such as crop health evaluation, irrigation, and monitoring.

Drone data collection while in flight can yield a wide range of metrics, including plant health indices, plant counts, yield prediction, and visual images.

Importantly, smart farming that relies on the internet of things doesn’t just aim for industrial-scale farms. Improved transparency in farming for the benefit of consumers, society, and the market is one way it can contribute to new agricultural trends like organic farming and family farming, which involves things like selective breeding of cattle and/or cultivation of certain crops, as well as the protection of specialized or high-quality types.

Third Green Revolution

Smart farming and agriculture powered by the Internet of Things are enabling what some may refer to as a Third Green Revolution.

The Third Green Revolution is sweeping the agricultural sector, following in the footsteps of the genetics and plant breeding revolutions. The Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, precision farming technology, big data analytics, and other data-driven analytics tools will be essential to this transformation.

According to this smart agricultural revolution, in the future, total efficiency will grow while the consumption of pesticides and fertilizers will decrease. Increased food safety will be the result of improved food traceability made possible by Internet of Things technologies. Reduced water waste and improved treatment and input efficiency are just a few ways in which this will help the environment.

Thus, smart farming’s more accurate and resource-efficient methods hold great promise for bringing about a more productive and sustainable type of agricultural output.A new farm will bring the long-sought goal of humanity to fruition. Our population could reach 9.8 billion by 2050, and this will help feed them.Smart farming and agriculture powered by the Internet of Things are enabling what some may refer to as a Third Green Revolution.

The Third Green Revolution is sweeping the agricultural sector, following in the footsteps of the genetics and plant breeding revolutions. The Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, precision farming technology, big data analytics, and other data-driven analytics tools will be essential to this transformation.

According to this smart agricultural revolution, in the future, total efficiency will grow while the consumption of pesticides and fertilizers will decrease. Increased food safety will be the result of improved food traceability made possible by Internet of Things technologies. Reduced water waste and improved treatment and input efficiency are just a few ways in which this will help the environment.

Thus, smart farming’s more accurate and resource-efficient methods hold great promise for bringing about a more productive and sustainable type of agricultural output. A new farm will bring the long-sought goal of humanity to fruition. Our population could reach 9.8 billion by 2050, and this will help feed them.