Food is the most important resource for us humans; With a steadily growing population and restrictions risen due to the global pandemic, shortage in manpower to enable the incessant supply of food is imminent. To tackle this challenge, there has been an introduction of automation in the agriculture industry.
This rise in farm automation is known as ‘Smart Farming”. This relates to nothing but the automation of essential agricultural processes. This concept is touted to be the one-stop solution for a host of challenges that humanity will face in the years to come.
So how exactly does smart farming help us?
As consumers across the world are switching to healthier options in their food choices, a need for a plant-based diet has taken its due course, and for which the demand has increased exponentially. These demands will be sufficiently met with the advent of smart farming.
Moreover, smart farming actively addresses the concerns for the need of increased manpower that is required to carry out farming operations effectively. Adding to that, the icing on the cake is that farm automation consists of those innovations that are comparatively more environmentally conscious.
Data-driven decision-making is hugely beneficial to smart farming, supply chain and socio-economic development and wellbeing in holistic terms. As tech-driven farming equipment gains popularity across the globe, the need for big data to back these machines has come into the picture.
Smart devices would need the support of data- backed decisions in order to carry out the important operations that are required at a large scale in high yielding farms.So it is safe to say that smart farming equipment and data analytics will go hand in hand in the near future.
Where there is big data, IoT is soon to follow. A prime example of this concept can be realized in “Smart Irrigation systems”, which are a proven way to save water- almost upto 50% more, and simultaneously result in better yields and more efficient farming methods. Farmers can opt between soil-based smart- irrigation systems or weather- based irrigation systems.
Some of the key benefits that smart farming systems have on the environment are:
- Waste reduction
- Improved productivity
- Efficient management of resources
- Improved ability to combat droughts and severe climate change
- Water Conservation