The agriculture industry is one of the most important sectors in developed countries. Worldwide population growth has demanded a rise in food and resources over the next decade.
The agriculture market is expected to increase 3% per year during this time, suggesting a change in farming, consumption, and sustainability. With evolving technology, IoT has made precision farming more efficient for harvesters across the globe.
In a nutshell, precision agriculture is the practice of farming more accurately with the use of technology (GPS navigation, sensors, drones, control systems, etc.). According to a study by Hexa Reports, precision agriculture is expected to grow to $43.4 billion in the next four years.
IoT can improve the agriculture business in three definitive ways.
Tracking feed inventory and livestock can often make it difficult for farmers to feel confident everything is running in a smooth, timely manner.
Agricultural tech companies develop solutions through IoT to establish real-time monitoring for feed bins and inventory. Tracking this information enhances the production schedule to ensure inventory arrives on schedule, eliminating the worry about delivery mistakes.
Not only does IoT track feed bin levels, but sensors are inserted to monitor cleanliness levels as well. Farmers do not have to rely on on-site Wi-Fi to use real-time monitoring — instead LPWAN networks provide connectivity.
Real-time monitoring and IoT allow data to be transmitted to the customer’s cloud to effectively provide information that farmers trust to keep their land organised.
Digitalising the agriculture industry will aid in sustainability success in smart farming. By 2050, it is expected the annual global farmland loss will equate to the size of Belgium.
To combat this alarming issue, technology is set at the center of the solution. With automatic production efficiency, errors are eliminated to ensure no feed goes to waste. IoT innovations, such as real-time monitoring, assist in reducing the environmental footprint of global agriculture. Inserting these technologies narrows the gap for harvest loss and carbon emissions.
With the aid of IoT technology, managing land has never been easier. Precision agriculture adopts new ways in which crops, livestock, and bins can be monitored, therefore improving efficiency, accuracy, and costs needed to run a farm. This increases both crop quality and quantity, allowing harvesters to then focus on market opportunities and strengthening customer relationships.
The use of IoT in agriculture provides farmers with the tools they need to feel confident about their products — giving them more control over their farmland. Technology adoption rates are increasing, and it is important for farmers to understand both the benefit and challenges of precision agriculture for their business. Deploying complex IoT solutions is beyond the scope of expertise for much of the agriculture industry; working with expert IoT enablers helps companies manage IoT solutions with ease.
For nearly two decades, KORE has helped its customers turn complex, fragmented IoT offerings into compelling new services that are designed for simplicity and scale with robust connectivity management and IoT managed services.
Download the eBook, “Comprehensive Guide to a Successful IoT Implementation” to learn how to overcome common IoT deployment challenges and prepare for IoT success.