Big Data in Agriculture
Ankit Kumar Singh Tanya Yaqub
Research Scholar Research Scholar
Computer Science and Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering,
Galgotias University Galgotias University
Greater Noida, India Greater Noida, India
ankit99902@gmail.com email2000tanya@gmail.com
Abstract— In recent years, there is a massive growth of data
almost in every industry and business area. So how we can
manage these datas?. In order to manage these datas we have
to collect some information regarding it. In this research
paper, we first briefly introduce the concept of big data,
including its definition, features, opportunities and value. In
this research paper we will focusing on our domain i.e., role
of big data in agriculture. Data are playing an important role
making good planning and policies for agricultural growth
and development. Population growth and climate change are
worldwide trends that are increasing the importance of using
big data science to improve agriculture. Add to that land
degradation increasing marginal land and loss of
biodiversity are better deals with study of big data science.
Crop data can be break down into bits and bytes it will give
better study about the crop development by using advance
data analytics tools for betterment of agriculture. Here, talk
about some important tools and techniques to handle and
study the big data.
I. INTRODUCTION
In digital world, data are generated from various sources
and the fast transition from digital technologies has led to
growth of big data. It is defined from 3Vs to 4Vs. 3Vs
refers to volume, velocity, and variety. Volume refers to the
huge amount of data, velocity is the rate of growth. Variety
provides information about the types of data such as
structured, unstructured, semi- structured etc. The fourth V
refers to veracity that includes availability and
accountability. Let's discuss about the types of data in big
data . There are three types of data in big data
1.Structured
By structured data, we mean data that can be processed,
stored, and retrieved in a fixed format. It refers to highly
organized information that can be readily and seamlessly
stored and accessed from a database by simple search engine
algorithms. For instance, the employee table in a company
database will be structured as the employee details, their job
positions, their salaries, etc., will be present in an organized
manner.
Sunita Yadav
Research Scholar
Computer Science and Engineering
Galgotias University
Greater Noida, India
ysunita036@gmail.com
2. Unstructured
Unstructured data refers to the data that lacks any specific
form or structure whatsoever. This makes it very difficult
and time-consuming to process and analyze unstructured
data. Email is an example of unstructured data.
3.Semi-structured Semi-
structured data pertains to the data containing both the
formats mentioned above, that is, structured and
unstructured data. To be precise, it refers to the data that
although has not been classified under a particular
repository (database), yet contains vital information or tags
that segregate individual elements within the data.
It is expected that the growth of big data is estimated to
reach 25 billion by 2015. The use and analysis of big data is
increasing day by day in different fields. Smart farming is
one of the technique which implemented and analysis by the
help of big data. Smart farming is based on the information
and communication technologies into machinery,
equipment, and sensors in agricultural production systems.
It allows a large volume of data and information which is
used in agriculture. Smart farming is is also using data
transmission and enable the combination and analysis of
various farm data.
Characteristics of Big Data

The concept of Smart Farming along the management cycle
as a cyber-physical system. It means that smart devices are
connected to the Internet which are controlling the farm
system. There are so many tools which can be use easily and
efficiently by connecting it to internet. It is time saving
.devices. Some of the devices are Rain Gauge, Tractor,
sprinklers, etc.
We can use these devices in farming, by adding some
sensors, built-in-intelligence which can control all the
devices from anywhere just with the help of a remote.
The cyber-physical management cycle of Smart
Farming
Big Data technologies are playing an essential role in this
development. Machines are equipped with all kind of
sensors that measure data in their environment that is used
for the machines behavior
Both Big Data and Smart Farming are relatively new
concepts, so it is expected that knowledge about their
applications and their implications for research and
development is not widely spread. Big Data applications in
relation to Smart Farming is the most important research and
development challenges to be addressed in the future.
However, technology is changing rapidly in this area
II. BIG DATA OPPORTUNITIES.
1. Open Data: Open Data is a powerful, evidence-
based tool for long-term sustainable development
by improving economic opportunities for farmers
and health of consumers. We all make decisions
everyday based on different sources of information.
Much of that information ultimately starts out as
digital data. Open data is data that anyone can
access, use and share. In practice, that means
making data accessible online, putting in standard
digital forms which are machine-readable and
having terms or licenses that allow anyone to reuse
the data for anything.
Open access: Open access to research, metanalysis,
and open publication of data are vital resources for
nutritional security.
How does open data benefit farmers?
What do I plant, when do I plant, how much
fertilizer do I give and to whom am I selling my
crop? These are just some examples of decisions a
farmer needs to make every planting season. All
operational decisions and decision on the economic
viability of the farm take into account risk
management, regulation compliance, economic
optimisation, investments and labour capacity. To
make these decisions, farmers traditionally use data
they know. They listen to the weather forecast, look
at their past crop performance, and consult experts
in case they find a problem. Most farmers record
what they do and how much they earn from certain
crops. By doing this, farmers are constantly learning
and improving. Now when farmers enter the digital
age they are better connected and there are more
possibilities to gather information and store
information about their farm. This provides a great
opportunity to get easier access to data that is
meaningful and get a better analysis of farm
performance. Services such as Decision Support
System (DSS) for farmers are offered via smart
phone, PC or even via SMS; the farmer has the
knowledge at his fingertips. The availability of open
data will increase the possibilities for farmers and
 their service providers to deliver meaningful
knowledge to take decisions that will improve their
farm operations and make strategic decisions on
investments. Open data gives also access to better
market information . Precision agriculture can even
collect geo-referenced data from sensors on tractors
and in the field .
Monitoring and tracking in agriculture using
big data
1.Precisely monitor weather conditions
Stop relying on inaccurate, imprecise information from
meteorology reports and weather apps or spending hours
manually checking rain gauges. Weather conditions
monitoring solutions give you the data you need to make
accurate decisions about your fields and crops. Remotely
access real-time information about rainfall, temperature
changes, wind conditions, air pressure, and humidity for
your precise location. Optimize labor, water usage and crop
health with the smart solution to precision agriculture.
2.Virtually fence, track and manage herds
Livestock management is a complex, around- the-clock job,
but no rancher can be everywhere at once -until now. Smart
livestock collars let you virtually fence and track your herd
via GPS, even when you are far from the ranch. Gather real-
time information about location, speed, body temperature
and stress levels of livestock. Reduce inefficiencies,
decrease operating costs and improve the health and safety
of cattle, horses, sheep and goats.
3. Collect soil condition data
Imagine if your fields themselves could tell you everything
they need to thrive. Soil monitoring sensors deliver real-
time readings of soil temperature, volumetric water content,
and air temperature - directly from the field to the Internet.
Smart sensors deliver data at customizable intervals,
eliminating the need for manual readings. Accurately
predict optimal planting times, reduce water usage, and
minimize the plant stress that comes from over or under-
watering. Analyze historical patterns to make better long-
term crop management decisions.
4. Measure the temperature of grain stocks
Most grain temperature monitors are costly to deploy, time-
consuming to maintain, and don’t deliver information in a
meaningful format. Smart temperature monitors for grain
silos give farmers a simpler, more cost-effective way to keep
tabs on the health of their stores. Receive remote
temperature measurements, even when no Wifi or electricity
is present. Deploy sensors in minutes, avoiding costly setup
and maintenance. Receive information in graphs and
spreadsheets, allowing you to easily analyze trends and act
on results.
Secure gates and deter livestock thieves
Traditional gate alarms rely on cellular networks, making
them useless in remote settings. Secure your gates and deter
livestock thieves with a rugged, tamper-proof device that is
intelligent enough to differentiate between human and
animal movement. Rest easy knowing you can remotely
monitor all of your gates from a single dashboard.
III. CHALLENGES IN BIG DATA
ANALYTICS
Recent years big data has been accumulated in several
domains like health care, public administration, retail,
bio- chemistry, and other interdisciplinary scientific
researches. Web-based applications encounter big data
frequently, such as social computing, internet text and
documents, and inter- net search indexing. Social
computing includes social net- work analysis, online
communities and prediction markets where as internet
search indexing includes ISI, IEEE Xplorer, Scopus,
Thomson Reuters etc. Considering this advantages of big
data it provides a new opportunities in the knowledge
processing tasks for the upcoming researchers. However
opportunities always follow some challenges.
To handle the challenges we need to know various
computational complexities, information security, and
computational method, to analyze big data. Here the
challenges of big data analytics are classified into four
broad categories namely data storage and analysis,
knowledge discovery and computational complexities,
scalability of data, and information security.
• Ownership
• Decision Support Tools
• Cost
• Bandwidth
• Quality
• Curation
• Disambiguation
• Connectivity
• Cybersecurity
• Storage
IV. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A conceptual framework was developed to provide a
systematic classification of issues and concepts for the
analysis of Big Data applications in Smart Farming from
a socio-economic perspective. A major complexity of such
applications is that they require collaboration between many
different stakeholders having different roles in the data
value chain. The management components are the
managerial variables by which the business processes are
integrated and managed across the network. The network
management component is further divided into a technology
and organization component.
For our purpose the framework was tailored to networks
for Big Data applications in Smart Farming are divided
into some categories.
 In this framework, the business processes focus on
the generation and use of Big Data in the
management of farming processes. For this reason,
we subdivided this part into the data chain,
the farm management and the farm processes. The
data chain interacts with farm processes and farm
management processes.
 The stakeholder network comprises all stakeholders
that are involved in these processes, not only users
of Big Data but also companies that are specialized
in data management.
 The network management layer typifies the
organizational and technological structures in the
network
 The technology component of network
management focuses on the information
infrastructure that supports the data chain. The
organizational component focuses on the
governance and business model of the data chain.
FARM PROCESSES
A business process is a set of logically related tasks
performed to achieve a defined business outcome.
Business processes can be subdivided into primary and
supporting business processes.
Primary Business Processes are those involved in the
creation of the product, its marketing and delivery to the
buyer.
Supporting Business Processes facilitate the development,
deployment and maintenance of resources required in
primary processes. The business processes of farming
significantly differ between different types of production,
e.g. livestock farming, and greenhouse cultivation.
A common feature is that agricultural production is
depending on natural conditions, such as climate, soil,
pests, diseases and weather.
FARM MANAGEMENT
Management or control processes ensure that the business
process objectives are achieved, even if disturbances occur.
The basic idea of control is the introduction of a controller
that measures system behaviour and corrects if
measurements are not compliant with system objectives.
The basic management functions are:
 Sensing and monitoring: measurement of the actual
performance of the farm processes. This can be
done manually by a human observer or automated
by using sensing technologies such as sensors or
satellites. In addition, external data can be acquired
to complement direct observations.
 Analysis and decision making: compares
measurements with the norms that specify the
desired performance signals deviations and decides
on the appropriate intervention to remove the
signaled disturbances.
 Intervention: plans and implements the chosen
intervention to correct the farm processes'
performance.
DATA CHAIN
The data chain refers to the sequence of activities from dataobjects or a surface area by means of propagated signals (eg.
capture to decision making and data marketing. It includes Electromagnetic waves as optical or microwave signal),
all activities that are needed to manage data for farm emitted by aerial vehicle, NDVI (Normalised Difference
management. Vegetation Index) which help to detect biomass and amount
of chlorophyll present in the plant. Hyper spectral cameras
Being an integral part of business processes, the data chain can be used for plants and soil analysis (height, growth,
consists necessarily of a technical layer that captures raw health). Farmers and other stakeholders have started seeing
data and converts it into information and a business layer benefits such as:
that makes decisions and derives value from provided data
services and busine ss intelligence  Reduction in fertilizer
 cost savings
V. NETWORK MANAGEMENT  Yield optimization
TECHNOLOGIES  Chemical and biological treatment
 Monitoring(fires, fields, animals)
The network management technology includes all
computers, networks, peripherals, systems software, Insurance
application packages, procedures, technical, information
and communication etc. They are used and necessary for Drone will helps to capture perfectly and accurately
adequate data management in the inter-organizational reporting events that leads to economic loss such as crop
control of farming processes. Components to be mentioned injury, destruction and reduce health, providing a detailed
here encompass: digital record that can drive more efficient adjustment
 Data resources stored in shared databases process.
and a shared understanding of its content.
 Information services and system that allow
us to use and maintain these databases. An
information system is used to process
information which is necessary to perform
useful activities.
 The necessary technical infrastructure.
None of the above can work if we don't
have the connected set of computers that
will allow for its usage.
 All the set of coding and messages are easy
to use and connected with same database,
which can be easily accessed and also it
must be error free .

VI. REVOLUTION AND BENEFITS

Big data and analytics tools are enabling

companies across multiple industries to achieve
better operational and financial results.

Just like how it has improved business operations in many
industries, the big data revolution has made its way into the
farming industry and modernized it at a pace we've never
seen before. Drones can be used for agriculture purpose for
surveillance, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring.
Drones are also called UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).
Remote sensing can be used for information about an
In farming, analysis of data flows could generate major
gains in productivity. Farmers in future could access real
time information on crop fertilization needs through data
sent by satellite to their connected tractors.
Big Data Analytics gives farmers insights into their crop
productivity through this mobile IoT based application
which enables organized crop planning along with being a data concept. Almost every year in India, most of the
process management platform. farmers faces a huge loss because their crops get destroyed.
By adapting this digital concept there will be large no. of
productivity and less no. of loss. Precision agriculture will
play a crucial role as with the help of UAV, there will be
less number of loss. Impotant savings (20% -90%) in terms
of photochemical treatment are expected. We are facing the
VII. CHANGES IN BIG DATA DEVELOPMENTS challenge to feed 10 billion people by 2050 while already
reaching the ecological limits of our planet today. We need
Big Data will cause major changes in scope and innovative solutions that are sustainable and minimize the
organization of Smart Farming. Business analytics at a scale environmental footprint of farming. Big Data analytics can
and speed that was never seen before will be a real game be one of them.
changer, continuously reinventing new business models. It
can be expected that farm management and operations will
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