An increasing population, which is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, requires the agriculture business to evolve to fulfill demand, despite environmental difficulties such as harsh weather conditions and climate change. To meet the demands of an expanding population, the agriculture business will need to adopt new technology to obtain a competitive advantage. Smart farming using IoT will enable the agricultural industry to raise operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance their yield quality by developing new agricultural applications in smart farming and precision farming.

So, what exactly is smart farming? Smart farming is a high-tech, investment way of producing environmentally friendly and long-lasting food for the general public. In agriculture, it uses modern information and communication technology (ICT).

The following are examples of technology that are currently available to farmers:

Sensors:

Water, soil, light, humidity, and temperature control

Connectivity:

LoRaWAN, cellular, and other technologies.

Software:

Applications agnostic Internet of Things platforms or bespoke software solutions that target certain farm types

Location:

Satellite, GPS, etc.

Robotics:

Processing facilities, Autonomous tractors, etc.

Data analytics:

Data pipelines for downstream solutions, standalone analytics solutions, etc.

Farmers may monitor field conditions without ever stepping foot in the field and make strategic decisions for the entire farm or a single plant if they have access to such technologies.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the driving force behind smart farming, connecting smart tools and sensors installed on farms to make farming processes data-driven and data-enabled.

Smart farming using IoT is based on a cycle that looks something like this:

1. Observation

Sensors collect information on crops, animals, soil, and the atmosphere.

2. Diagnosis and treatment

It is fed into a cloud-hosted Internet of Things platform with predefined decision rules and models—also known as “business logic”—that determine the status of an examined device and highlight any shortcomings or requirements.

3. Making choices

Following the discovery of difficulties, the user and machine learning-driven components of the IoT platform assess whether or not location-specific therapy is required and which treatment is needed.

4. Take action

Following the evaluation and activity of the end-user, the cycle is restarted from the beginning.

In smart farming using IoT, a system is created to monitor the crop field with sensors (light, humidity, temperature, soil moisture) and automate the irrigation system, which is then used to produce a crop harvest. Farmers are able to monitor their fields from virtually any location. When compared to traditional farming, IoT-based smart farming is highly efficient.

It is not only possible that IoT-based smart farming applications will be used to benefit conventional, large-scale farming operations, but they may also serve as new levers to advance other growing or common trends in agriculture such as organic farming, family farming (complex or small spaces, specific cattle and cultures, protection of particular or high-quality varieties, etc.), and the enhancement of highly transparent farming.

IoT-based smart farming can deliver significant benefits in terms of environmental challenges, such as more efficient water use and supply and treatment efficiency. Let us look at some essential IoT-based smart farming applications transforming agriculture.

Many agricultural institutions must make significant efforts to monitor their crops. The modern era can provide a variety of tools to assist. For example, Internet of Things (IoT) farming technology, often known as smart farming, grows rapidly. Smart agriculture, like IoT adoption in homes, smart cities, logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, and other industries, has advantages and disadvantages. This article will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of smart agricultural adoption and get started with it.

What is meant by “smart farming”?

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the market share of smart agriculture, which can be attributed in part to rapid environmental changes such as extreme weather, soil erosion, and a lack of land moisture. These unstable circumstances, combined with the unexpected features of our world today, are driving agriculture businesses to establish smart farming projects.

Smart farming using IoT enables farmers to optimize the real-time collection of data to increase output, decrease costs and manage expenses, and improve overall efficiency in many different agriculture sectors, thanks to smart sensors that automatically monitor every component of everyday work.

The use of agricultural smart devices makes it easier to trace the lifespan of a crop and its environmental growing circumstances in real-time. Farmers can utilize smart farming using IoT to track water use and nutrient density and manage the number of fertilizers and pesticides they use. Farmers will be able to ensure optimum harvesting yields and better agriculture management systems in this manner.

Benefits of smart farming using IoT

There are several advantages associated with the adoption of the smart farming process/ However, here are a few of them:

Data Collection

Collecting data is the most valuable characteristic of Internet of Things technology. Data acquired by smart sensors allows farmers to control processes better using real-time monitoring and analytics systems. Weather, air and soil quality, humidity, and other elements impacting crop development may all be detected with smart agriculture sensors.

Product Quality

When it comes to crop cycle mapping, data-driven agriculture can simplify it. In addition to an IoT-connected ecosystem, maintaining the health of each crop or maintaining an optimal soil condition can help improve performance. Drones are often used for airborne surveillance, soil or crop sensors, which all improve product quality.

Management of Costs and Resources

Smart sensors reduce the risk of resource misuse. The high cost of such resources lowers the initial investment cost in IoT devices. As a result, the flexibility of processes enables farmers to concentrate on employing the appropriate amount of resources, assisting them in defining reliable criteria for resource and cost management.

Improved Activity Management

Smart agriculture technology can offer value to overall activity management based on the data generated by smart sensors. As the agricultural production process advances, work efficiency, equipment efficiency, and general working conditions improve.

Entrepreneurial Potential

Smart farming using IoT allows Farmers to develop more individualized ways by entering new technology markets. Consumers’ and retailers’ interactions are shifting as a result of this. Farmers are more prone than other business owners to change how they conduct their operations and adopt wholly new development methods.