Top 10 Technologies In Agriculture

Top 10 Technologies In Agriculture

It might be a little wrong here, but we're going to throw it out there anyway: some of us can fight it, our journalists are vague #list idiots.

List, Top 10, 'Best Close'. Websites like BuzzFeed and Huffington Post have basically grabbed the mainstream media bandwagon. no matter what you call it; Our writers like to ponder this, discuss what to add and what to leave out, and then see what's needed for those lists. How the ultimate target audience gets to them: You, the reader.

Then why the list of "10 Most Interesting Techniques for Healthy Agriculture"? Aside from the fact that it was a lot of fun to set up, we often hear that many of the technologies we see on the pages of our posts are not fully delivered when implemented in the field. Our attempt to say, "Hey, this is what we're hearing really works!"

1. Demonstrate and vaporize technology and machine learning.

Many of the "cool" new technologies available for agriculture are struggling to find practical applications that add value. At first glance, machine learning—the ability of a computer to gather knowledge about a process or object and make its own "decisions"—has a wide range of applications. And it is possible, but the devil is in the details. Things that seem relatively simple often have very few layers which quickly add complexity.

The technology, the new tech company Blue River, began to identify a major problem – avoidance of palmar amaranth weeds – and developed a method that could be used to identify and spray palmars using machine learning. . "She can learn." In test mode in the southeastern US, it will go into production in 2018.

        2. Internet of Things.

The term Internet of Things (IoT) refers to many Silicon Valley environments, but its potential benefits for agriculture need to be clarified. It's basically an integration of all the different tools we use to monitor and measure what we're doing, and to make the information completely accessible.

We are already using it. Today, we monitor fuel levels, soil moisture, water meters, rainfall, weather stations, irrigation pumps and livestock biometrics, and get information from smartphones. "These new technologies can help improve operational planning and decision-making already on farms large and small," said Paul Welbug, director of agribusiness development at the Senate. As more and more solutions are developed and deployed, there is no doubt that we will see more benefits of IoT in agriculture.

IoT has the potential to combine billions of devices and 'things' in agriculture that have never been heard of before because they were usually too expensive. Now, less power, bigger networks, lower costs. Thanks to modules and longer batteries. With the advent, we can add land, water, plants, animals, machines and anything else that can provide us with valuable data.

        water control

When it comes to using technology that improves control and efficiency, irrigation is at the forefront of community industry. Systems that provide cell phone and computer status reports on pivot point display, soil moisture monitoring, weather and other field data, and mobile devices provide tools for mobile users to make and implement irrigation management decisions We do. East

And the future is bright for irrigation control. Manufacturers like Wally and Lindsey are working with other types of field sensors to help consumers make more important agricultural decisions. "The fact that these manufacturers are ready to open up and join is great news for agriculture." Paul Mann says a lot of work is underway that will provide end users with information that will improve agricultural knowledge as well as making irrigation decisions.

        4. Nitrogen Modeling.

Fertilizer is still the biggest revenue generator for retail service providers – and one of the most studied in agriculture in recent years. Along with various management measures have come commercial programs that monitor and improve nitrogen performance – programs that are really starting to show their capabilities.

As the market expands from a single fertilizer application approach to multiple seasonal applications, as needed, nitrogen management solutions have been developed to help retailers make better timing rates and decisions so that everyone can run more efficient applications. made of Systems like 360 ​​Yield Center and Adapt-N strengthen and provide a clear path to improved nutritional performance.

"The pace of adoption of nitrogen control solutions is driven by two things: validation and simplification," said Steve Sebelkin, CEO of Agronomic Technology Corporation, which developed the Adapt-N. “The recognition goes beyond this, ‘it works’ – for the farmer, this means improving every step of the decision-making process, and for the ag retailer, it must be of core value to the core business. "

They claim that the dynamic and flexible solutions provide "feasibility" so that end users can understand the data and make adjustments to applications and recommendations in flight.

        5. Measurement of Electrical Conductivity

Measuring soil electrical conductivity (EC) is becoming an important component of any health-related irrigation program. Currently available CE observation products, such as the bag-mounted Geonics EM38-MK2 (used more explicitly in permanent cultivated gardens) or by combining the output of other layers, such as moisture and toxic soil pH. Behind the Seoul EC sensor, service providers are praising high-level data for using the data to make more informed decisions about water, both in terms of time and quantity, to improve water use. Can show water service by farmers. California uses EC sized sensors of the right size in its vineyards.

Measuring the electrical conductivity (EC) of soil is becoming an important component of any health-related irrigation program. By combining data output from currently available EC observation products, such as the Geonics EM38-MK2 that is applied to bags (used more prominently in gardens with permanent crops) or other layers, such as soil moisture and With pH values, Seoul EC sensors back, service providers rent data to make more informed decisions about water, both timing and quantity, to improve water use by farmers. service can be shown.

Zabala Vineyards (Solidad, California) is one of several California wineries that deploy EC sensors in their vineyards to plan irrigation for the right size. It's a variety of soil types, from sandy to mostly grapes grown in Fred Flintstone ore gravel, and it's less data that winery manager Jason Mellon has to add to his irrigation program. Allow type adjustment.

With these EM-38 EC values, we intend to use this to define the water metrics available to our plant in real time, and we use this data to guide our soil sampling program. . And that's all used to design. Our irrigation system and program for the year,” explains Mellon during our California Ag Tech Tour 2017.