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The Internet of Things has become a byword for how interconnected devices will form the future of technology. Beyond smartphones, tablets, and computers, devices such as thermostats, refrigerators and integrated automotive tech are becoming ever more embedded in the public sphere.
For the general public, the IoT is still relatively novel rather than useful. However, various industries have identified practical applications, leading companies towards some extraordinary innovation. Of these industries, agriculture is making some huge movements towards integrating this technology.
Analysis
First and foremost, farms which have connected to the IoT have greater access to accurate analysis of their stock and crops. Smart sensors on everything from automated tractors to cattle tags can offer minute by minute, unit by unit analysis of how each crop or stock is doing. At the click of a button, users can take a long view of the climate, soil density, and crop or livestock growth.
“Through automation, these analyses can enable users to project yearly reports and predictions, optimizing yield and quality,” writes Melanie Philpott, an author at Researchpapersuk and Lastminutewriting. “For farmers, the detailed analysis that these smart sensors can bring will revolutionize the industry.”
Product control
One of the major benefits of adopting interconnectivity in smart farming is the ability to control production and quality to a greater extent. With a detailed understanding of the data yielded by intelligent farm equipment, farmers can ensure they are making the best of their holdings, and diversify or optimize their land usage in response.
With close inspection, they can see the health of plants or livestock and make better informed land-management decisions. This system of machine-aided analysis and decision making brings a whole new level to the term ‘precision-farming.’
Ecological impact
Another factor that is becoming increasingly more important is the ecological impact that the IoT can make to farming. More than ever, farmers are concerned with the sustainability of their holdings, and what wider impact they may be having on the surrounding area ecologically.
Climate scientists agree that farming can have a hugely detrimental effect on our global ecology. This means that new methods, augmented by IoT, can not only optimize maximum yield but minimize the impact of potentially hazardous or detrimental chemicals.
This is done through a system called Convolution Neural Networking. Smart Sensors monitor key indicators of plant and livestock health and target treatment or pesticides only to those areas that specifically require it.
Technology
Monitoring technology is an important resource in smart farming. Along with analysis and report generation, it brings, it enables real-time understanding of growth or loss. But it’s not the only automated tech available for farms.
“Some of the tech now available were in the realm of science fiction thirty years ago,” says Edward Aires, a regular contributor to Draftbeyond and Writinity. “Smart drones are available for precision crop spraying or planting, reducing carbon emissions from crop dusters. There is autonomous and robotic labor designed to cut on labor costs and reduce potential hazards associated with human labor. There are even now Driverless tractors which remove the human hazards altogether, and automatic irrigation and watering systems.”
Widespread adoption
For now, much of this still seems far-fetched and in some respects a novelty. But once adopted by the big agricultural companies, there is the likelihood that the costs of this tech will begin to fall. This is where we are likely to see the real benefit of the tech, as smallholders and farmers in developing countries adopt the technology.
Not only can it potentially begin to reverse the effects of widespread food poverty, but also re-enforce ecologically friendly practices across the globe.
About the Guest Author:
Cornelius J Johnson writes for Lucky Assignments and Gum Essays on a wide variety of subjects to do with business. As an expert on entrepreneurship, he loves to write and advise on matters relating to finance, start-ups and all aspects relating to digital marketing.
