Smart Farming

Introduction
With the world's population surpassing 7.7 billion people in 2019, agriculture technologies
are focusing on sustainable farming. Governments and international organizations are
putting more emphasis on achieving “sustainable intensification” in agriculture. Adopting
new technology that aid in crop management, pest control, quality control, and integrated
disease management is becoming increasingly important in developing more sustainable
agricultural methods.
With one in every seven people on the planet risking famine, farmers are under tremendous
pressure to increase output. All of this is done while being environmentally and
economically efficient. Farmers are frequently in a race against the clock to sow and harvest
with as few hands-on decks as possible, especially given the volatility of recent uncertain
seasons. This is where technology enters the picture. New agricultural advances have
resulted from a technology revolution, which will alter the landscape of farm and orchard
management.

Adoption of technology in Agriculture sector globally

There has been a limit to how quickly contemporary agricultural technology adoption can be
accelerated. This is due to the fact that speeding up this notion necessitates a great deal of
information and awareness of some of the factors that impact farmers' decisions to use
contemporary agricultural technologies. Institutional, social, and economic variables all have
an impact on how quickly or slowly agricultural technology are implemented. The size of the
land, the cost, and the advantages of technology are some of the economic elements that
influence the adoption rate of agricultural technology.
Farmers' educational levels, age, social groups, and gender are all social elements that
impact their likelihood of adopting new agricultural technology.
When it comes to adopting contemporary agricultural technology, small-scale farmers
confront both internal and external barriers. This explains why such technologies are
embraced at such a glacial pace. What counts, regardless of the obstacles, is if modern
technology has any benefit in the agriculture industry.

Adoption of technology in Agriculture sector, India

The majority of farmers in India do not have access to irrigation methods and methods that
are based on technology. The technology is either prohibitively expensive or logistically
impossible to make available in remote regions. Farmers also continue to rely extensively on
physical labour to plant, pick, harvest, thresh, sort, and pack crops. They are not aware of
the need of employing safe fertilizers and organic practices to grow food, increase soil and
crop quality, reduce soil erosion, and appropriately dispose of crop wastes. Even agricultural
markets are unorganized and lack governmental oversight. Farmers also lack knowledge
about financial and marketing strategies for obtaining the highest pricing for their produce.

Big data is being utilized in agricultural operations to give predictive insights, drive real-time
operational choices, and rethink business processes in order to create game-changing
business models. As a result, some experts believe that Big Data will result in significant
adjustments in the roles and power relationships among various participants in today's food
supply chain networks. The stakeholder landscape reveals an intriguing interplay between
large digital corporations, venture investors, and frequently small start-ups and newcomers.
Several public entities, on the other hand, disseminate open data with the condition that
individuals' privacy be protected.
In agriculture, IoT (Internet of Things) refers to sensors, drones, and robots that are linked
to the internet and work automatically or semi-automatically to execute operations and
collect data in order to increase efficiency and predictability. Agriculture automation and
robots, often known as Agribots, are beginning to gain traction among farmers in response
to rising demand and labor shortages throughout the world.
Challenges
Strong, dependable internet access is unavailable in many isolated rural regions across the
world (especially in poor nations, though numerous regions in the United States suffer from
this as well). As a result, attempts to use smart agricultural techniques in such areas are
thwarted. Digital farming will be difficult to adopt until network performance and
bandwidth speeds are greatly increased.
Future trends
 Weather Tracking- Despite the fact that we still make jokes about our local weather
forecasters, the truth is that computerized weather modeling is growing more advanced.
Farmers may use special onboard and portable farm technologies, as well as mobile
apps that run on almost any consumer smartphone, to access internet weather services
that are solely focused on agriculture. Farmers can use this technology to get enough
prior notice of frost, hail, and other weather events so that they may take preparations
to safeguard their crops or at the very least limit losses.
 Satellite Imaging - Real-time crop imagery has become possible as distant satellite
imaging has gotten more advanced. This isn't simply a picture from a bird's eye
perspective; they are photos with resolutions of up to 5 meters. Crop imaging allows a
farmer to inspect crops as if he or she were standing there, but without having to do so.
Even analyzing photographs once a week may save a farm a significant amount of time
and money. Additionally, this technology may be used with crop, soil, and water sensors
to provide farmers with warnings as well as suitable satellite imagery when danger
thresholds are exceeded.
 Pervasive Automation- In the agricultural technology business, the term "pervasive
automation" refers to any technology that minimizes operator burden. Autonomous
vehicles driven by robotics or remotely through terminals, as well as high precision
navigation technologies such as RTK navigation systems that optimize sowing and
fertilization routes, are examples. The ISOBUS standard has already been adopted by
most agricultural equipment, putting us on the verge of a farming reality in which balers,
combines, tractors, and other farm equipment can communicate and even work in a
plug-and-play fashion.

 Vertical Farming- Vertical farming has been a science fiction concept since the 1950s,
maybe even earlier, and it is now not only technically feasible but also commercially
viable within the decade. Vertical farming is a growing trend in agriculture. The process
 of growing food in vertically stacked layers is known as vertical farming, and it is a kind
of urban agriculture. This has several advantages. The capacity to grow in urban
surroundings, and hence having fresher meals accessible sooner and at cheaper rates, is
perhaps the most evident. Vertical farming, on the other hand, will not be restricted to
urban areas as previously thought.

Conclusion
Agriculture, like practically every other part of our contemporary life, is being transformed
by technology. Thanks to cutting-edge agricultural technology, the produce on your table
tonight will have arrived sooner, fresher, and more cost-effectively. In the coming decades,
agriculture technology will become increasingly automated.

References
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Yu W, Han F, Birchler JA (2007b), Engineered minichromosomes in plants.
https://www.financialexpress.com/education-2/agripreneur-mba-agriculture-
productivity/1526014/