Trends in Agriculture Industry

LEVERAGING BIG DATA TO MEET THE AGRICULTURAL NEEDS OF

TOMORROW

The Earth is composed of 60 percent water, and the remaining 40 percent is expected to house
9 billion inhabitants by the year 2050. And what do they all need in common? Food!
Approximately 40 percent of the Earth's land is used for the production of food, and yet one-
third of the food produced is wasted. To feed this ever-increasing number of inhabitants, there
is a need for excellent coordination between professionals across different fields and farmers
across the globe. One of the technologies helping them meet the current and future demands is
big data.
The new challenges posed every day requires farmers to continuously track various agricultural
data points, like soil conditions, water resources, weather patterns, growth rates, and the
impact of climate change. One way to make this possible is by participating in networks that
hare and analyze this kind of data.

Crowdsourcing Big Data in Agriculture

Big data in agriculture is aimed at collecting and analyzing large data sets that identify valuable
trends for farmers and decision-makers. Post collection, mathematical models are used for the
evaluation of potential scenarios by incorporating present conditions, climate change, future
requirements, and the application of technology in farming. The results from this can be helpful
for farmers and decision-makers in critical factors like where to invest time, money, and effort.
Furthermore, these data can be shared with the public sector to advice policy or research
initiatives. With adequate coordination and appropriate data sharing, these results can hold the
key to improving research processes and increase awareness of agricultural impacts.

Agricultural Big Data in Action

One of the critical factors to a fruitful crop yield is the proper knowledge of soil conditions. A
better and thorough understanding of nitrogen and potassium levels can enable farmers to
understand soil conditions better and make necessary adjustments to ensure crop growth. In
the U.S., robots that can determine the optimal position of corn seeds are being tested.
Meanwhile, Germany has reached the trail stages of a weed removal robot. Farmers today have
become more open to accepting and investing in new technology. They have begun leveraging
big data to optimize yields and, at the same time, reduce guesswork.

Agriculture need not be limited to plants alone; it also includes animals. Dubbed as the Internet
of Cows, farmers have incorporated sensor technology to farm animals to collect vital health
data for each animal. This also includes information that can help to identify the estimate birth
date for a pregnant cow. Big data is enabling farmers to manage their crops and animals better.
Crop insurance is an integral component of the financial system for farmers. Farmers can now
take pictures of their crops every week and provide reports on planting and pesticide usage
with support from geo-tagged data. This helps to report on crop damage and also has verifiable
evidence proactively.

News Source : LEVERAGING BIG DATA TO MEET THE AGRICULTURAL NEEDS OF TOMORROW

WHY ARE AGRICULTURE ENTERPRISES EMBRACING UAVS FOR

BETTER FARMING?

Many enterprises leverage drones for aerial surveillance or just for entertainment use, while
the agricultural platform is gradually recognizing the monumental impact that unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) could have on land management. Drones are becoming one of the next-gen
farming tools, a drift which is also known as smart farming, a holistic, software-centric move
towards a growing tradition. As the population continues to grow day by day, food production
must also increase by 70 percent to properly supply to everyone. This is where the drone comes
into the picture. Drones open the door to manage crops and help farmers expand production
without affecting the quality of the product.

Planting
The current implementation in UAV technology has minimized the seeding costs greatly. With
the help of 3D mapping technology, drones improve field arrangement and create seed planting
patterns. They not only help in planting seeds but also help to place the seed down in the
ground at the right depth for the right growth. After the planting is done, the drone-driven soil
examination offers the data for irrigation and also the nitrogen-level supervision.

Pollination

The invent of autonomous pollination, and imaging system (APIS) is made to help the self-
pollinating crops. The drones help locate the flowers by using a camera and discharges a push
of air, which makes the branch of flowers vibrate. It takes a picture of the flowers to view the
pollination. The main agenda of these APIS is not to replace the pollinators but to innovate a
technology that would help them if needed.

AI

Looking ahead, controlled drones of today will soon be replaced with fully autonomous drones
that can complete agricultural monitoring tasks mutually as well as collect data on their own.
One of the emerging technologies in the field of the agricultural industry is predictive analysis.
By implementing drones, change to track and predict multiple environmental impacts on the
crop yields like the weather changes. Drone technology continuously improves and transforms
the way farmers plan for future production, and pinpointing the best areas to plant the next set
of seeds. AI is the automation component of drones. It helps with programming a set of
parameters for the drones, and supervise it when it carries out those parameters.

Thermal Cameras

A thermal imaging camera on a drone can be used as a powerful tool. These help to detect heat
emerging from almost all the objects or materials and transforms them into visual images or
videos. The camera can adjust to identify the difference between hot or cold ground and have
the ability to reach wide extended areas that are hard to get to or see with a naked eye. A
thermal measurement can swiftly show where locations within a field are under or even over-
irrigated. While the traditional way of determining drainage was to probe and dig, which was
time-consuming. Now, the farmers have the capability to detect these remote homes utilizing
drone technology.

NIR Sensors

Near-Infrared (NIR) sensors measure the key elements in the manufacturing process. There is
an optical mechanism that is used to generate accurate and vigorous measurements. The
geometric techniques are used to know the area of concern which needs a given measurement.
These include ambient lighting, relative humidity, product height fluctuations, seasonal
differences, and color variations. NIR sensors enhance the quality assurance too. Within
agriculture, NIR sensors are centered on the contact of electromagnetic radiation with soil or
plant material. The imaging camera sensors on agricultural drones enable them to manage
crops, soil, fertilizing, and irrigation more accurately. The remote sensing involves taking the
measurement of radiation that is reflected from agricultural fields rather than being absorbed.
Plant reflectance is greater in the NIR section, as a result of leaf density and canopy structure
effects.

Fighting the crop Diseases

Farmers use the drone to measure their agriculture by leveraging the data for the mapping and
spraying their crops to get the correct profit. It is estimated that nearly 30-40 percent of the
produce from the cultivated plants die due to several harmful pests and diseases. In order to
minimize this, the farmers started using drones for their work. Farmers can compare the data
from the UAV pictures and their ground monitoring to know the performance of the drones as
well as the crops.

News Source : WHY ARE AGRICULTURE ENTERPRISES EMBRACING UAVS FOR BETTER
FARMING?

Source : StartUp City

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