The world population is growing at a rapid pace, and so the demand for agricultural products. It is expected that the population number will touch 9.7 billion by the end of 2050. It will lead to the increase in global agricultural production by 70%. Therefore, an intelligent way of switching the production process is needed in this sector to suffice the anticipated needs of the growing population.
Adopting innovative technological means is the only feasible approach to maintain the balance between the growing population and agricultural products demand. Technologies like Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning and the Internet of Things are bringing drastic change in the agriculture sector. Internet of Things is playing a vital role in this process by making processes entirely effortless with its top-notch features. It is taking the farming sector to the next level by implementing radical techniques such as advanced analytics.
The improved results of smart farming can be observed with high-quality products and continuously increasing productivity. Farmers are also witnessing a reduction in cost by implementing IoT devices. IoT has wide range of applications in the agriculture sector and some of them are explained in upcoming section.
Major applications of IoT in agriculture:
Precision Farming
High tech farming techniques and IoT smart solutions can help farmers to enhance fieldwork efficiency significantly. IoT sensors are embedded in the field for extensive supervision of the crops. These devices assist farmers in obtaining real-time information about the resource areas and topographies. Moreover, these sensors also capture other parameters such as soil temperature and acid level. IoT also helps in limiting gaps while performing farming activities by predicting external weather condition. IoT promotes precise farming with IoT intelligent solutions. Incorporating agritech analytics can further enhance these smart farming practices by providing deeper insights and data-driven decisions for improved crop yield and resource management.
Smart Pest Management
Managing pest smartly is profoundly needed as the traditional field inspection methods consume a tremendous amount of time and require loads of efforts. IoT technology has made this process remarkably effortless and quick. Its innovative solutions can inspect pest in the field and offer valuable insights to take necessary actions. It also makes sure that good quality pesticides are being used in the area without compromising the health of crops. Farmers are notified with real-time alerts if any deficiency is found in crop health to take appropriate actions.
Intelligent Livestock Management
Livestock and cattle are the central part of farms as they help in diverse farming activities. Farmers have to take care of their health and feeding habits frequently, which adds to farming endeavors. IoT innovative solutions contribute significantly to monitoring and regulating the health of livestock. IoT based smart wearable devices are used for this purpose. These wearables include neckbands connected with the IoT dashboards and application to record and display readings about the health parameters of cows, horses and other farm animals. This is how IoT devices help farmers in real-time monitoring of livestock’s body temperature, blood pressure and other health parameters
Biz4intellia: An end-to-end IoT platform for smart solutions
Biz4intellia is a one-stop platform for all types of IoT solutions. The company support multiple industries to increase their productivity and work efficiency by implementing IoT solutions. The IoT sensor developed by Biz4intellia is embedded with all the relevant features that can boost the efficiency of farming processes. Sensors, gateways, dashboards and applications are the main components of IoT system that work integrally to fetch, preprocess and display data. The company also provide customized solutions, which is a valuable feature of the Biz4intellia IoT solution. The main characteristics of Biz4intellia’s IoT smart farming solutions are described below:
- Livestock tracking and Geofencing
Real-tome livestock tracking and geofencing is one of the most valuable benefits for farmers. It prevents 70% of livestock theft every year, which increases the sustainability of farm significantly.
- Smart logistics and warehousing
Farming is majorly done at a large scale and often have a vast stock. Thus, handling logistics becomes very complex. IoT smart solutions help manage logistics and warehouse smartly by evenly governing the process of placing, storing and transferring products.
- Smart pest management
Pest control and pesticide quality management can be done smartly with an IoT smart pest management system. The sensor installed in the fields monitor the crop health by inspecting the ground.
- Climate monitoring and forecasting
Climatic conditions and weather influence the farming process significantly. Therefore, evaluating future climate can be very advantageous for the farmers.
- Predictive analytics for crops and livestock
Predictive analytics is the feature of IoT smart devices that predict the future health of the crops and livestock by reading and analyzing the data at the time of farming practices. Through this, the farming practice can be modified to improve the health of crop and livestock.
- Remote equipment monitoring
The main equipment’s that are used in the farming process are tractors, pickups and harvesting machines. These equipment are implanted with IoT sensors to monitor and manage their workability and performance remotely. Moreover, processes like curation and IoT data analysis can be executed quickly with these IoT devices.
- Drone monitoring
Drone monitoring is an advanced technique to monitor and analyze the overall growth and vegetation index of crops. The IoT sensor embedded inside the Drone makes this process smoother and more accurate. Various types of sensors, including multispectral, thermal and hyper-spectral, are installed in Drones to fetch data and map crop health.
- Automated Sprinkler System
An automated sprinkler system determines the need for water in the field by analyzing the environment's weather, humidity, and temperature. Simultaneously, an IoT-based water meter keeps an eye on the watering process to restrict water overflow in the field. Managing the watering process in agriculture is one of the most critical aspects of intelligent farming.
Conclusion
The rapidly expanding use of IoT in farming is transforming the agricultural sector solely into IoTized farming. Farmers performing IoTized farming activities are beholding tremendous profits with enhanced productivity and quality of products. Futuristically, IoT will take the agriculture sector to an entirely new level where every process will be automated, and productivity will be maximum, leading to a balanced ecosystem between demand and supply.
