Smart agriculture is the harnessing of new technologies to improve productivity and farm management. To a large extent smart agriculture is possible thanks to the arrival of fiber optics to rural populations, since having high-speed, low-latency Internet in a rural community makes it possible to incorporate, for example, solutions for crop monitoring and process management on farms.
According to smart farming solutions company Ondo, “farmers who use technologies for data collection, diagnostics and decision making see a 40% increase in crop yields. They can also save users up to 85% in water consumption and 50% in energy consumption.”
Some examples of intelligent agriculture, thanks to the use of new technologies, are
- To have technological tools for irrigation control and crop condition and/or nutrition.
- Automated management of greenhouse temperature
- Incorporation of sensors for soil, light and temperature control
- Efficient water management (use and administration), moisture metering
- Use of tracking systems to aid in livestock traceability
- Management software linked to the processes, which also allows data collection.
In short, the IoT (Internet of Things) applied to agriculture.
Currently, according to the company Advantech, which uses LoRaWan solutions, “12% of farms worldwide use smart technologies” and their use is crucial for resource management and crop adaptation to the challenges of climate change.
