Big Data Holds the Keys for Digital Agriculture
“According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, food production must increase with 60% to be able to feed the growing population expected to hit 9 billion in 2050. John Deere uses big data to step into the future of farming to help farmers achieve this ambitious target.”(Datafloq)
The networked agriculture can benefit in many places of databases and real-time monitoring – The balance of weather data with the plant growth data, and the complex structure of the forecasted demand and the current market.
Big Data in agriculture – The Internet of fields, cows and machinery
The Internet of Things (IoT) will take the entire value chain of agriculture. Sensors in the fields can exactly specify the moisture content and the composition of the soil. The application of IoT saves time, fuel and water, leaving the logistical flow plan better..
Even cows, calves, cattle or pigs are monitored in the digitized agriculture via sensors. Instead of a mark in the ear breeds, in the future, valuable data can be provided with the chips and sensors on the collar. For example, with all these sensors, farmer can receive automated notification via SMS on whether a cow is ready insemination and whether the animals’ body temperature is normal. The detection of the vital data in real-time allows farmers to detect animal disease and plan for a early treatment.
Finally, Big Data can be used to monitor the entire machinery in a farm and guarantees as little downtime as possible. When there are signs of faults in the process, sensors could indicate which machine has what types of problems. This application shows the strength of Big Data applications – able to identify problems based on pattern variation analysis.
Accurate weather database is the key for intelligent agriculture
The amount of seeds, fertilizers and the use of agents for pest control can be better standardized and regulated through the use of database applications. For example, accessing the accurate weather and climate databases can support better plans for daily and annual usage. In addition, farmers can use the regional and national databases to understand the dissemination of certain pests, and then use insecticides or herbicides more intelligently.
Economic benefits through agriculture digitization
In the age of digital agriculture, the universal network of formers can improve information exchange, to act quicker on issues such as whether the daily grain prices comply with the requirements that are necessary to obtain agricultural subsidies. The job profile of farmers is similar to the modern entrepreneurs today. It includes technical innovations of agricultural equipment as well as receptive to new business models.
Obviously Big Data will bring enormous potential for value in agriculture. But there are still some technical limitations such as the lack of broadband Internet in rural areas need to be solved. The action for digital agriculture is not necessarily and exclusively on the farmer side, but it is in software, cloud and hardware vendors.
