The IoT (Internet of Things) is part of our new reality, from education to health and manufacturing to logistics. For instance, people can find its application in agriculture, better known as smart agriculture.

Farming has always been seen as an eternal earthwork, but in the last years, it has acquired a wide range of technological transformations. Nowadays, since smart agriculture exists, farmers have control of the process.

Today, it is more predictable and it is climbing efficiently in the industry. The IoT market in agriculture reached $6.0 billion.

Definition and market size

There are several ways to define modern agriculture, such as the application of technology in agriculture in general.

This term is mostly used to indicate the application of IoT solutions in agriculture. Since IoT sensors can collect environmental and mechanical metrics, farmers are informed enough to make decisions that will improve every aspect of their yard.

As an example, using smart agriculture sensors in order to inspect and monitor the state of crops, producers are able to determine how many pesticides or fertilizers need to reach optimal productivity. It is the same with the smart farming description.

Even when smart agriculture IoT, as IIoT in general, have not so many consumers as technological devices, such as cellphones or computers, yet the market is really powerful since COVID-19 has been degenerating the world. IoT solutions are having a positive impact on the agriculture industry.

The smart framing market has reached a $6.2 billion value in 2021. At the same time, this value is expected to triple by 2025, reaching a $15.5 billion value. Compared to being over $5.0 billion back in 2018.

This market is still developing, and there is still a chance for new businesses willing to join in. IoT products and smart agriculture is the way to success.

IoT and its benefits: shaping agriculture

Technologies and IoT have the potential to transform agriculture to become smarter. There are several ways IoT can enhance farming.

First of all: Data. IoT uses data to reveal the state of your business, such as weather conditions, soil quality, and growth progress. Also, employee performance and equipment efficiency.

Better control over the internal procedures will lower manufacturing risks. The capacity to prevent the amount of waste of your production allows you to plan for an effective product distribution.

The costs management and waste reduction will be possible thanks to the increased control over the manufacturing process.

Increase business productivity through process automation with smart devices is possible now. You can automate numerous processes across the manufacturing cycle in agriculture, such as irrigation, pest control, or fertilizing.

As a consequence, now you can maintain higher standards for crop quality and growth capacity.

Benefits in real life

The first thing to know is that there are many types of IoT sensors for farming as well as IoT applications in agriculture.

The most common smart agriculture gadgets are weather stations and smart farming sensors.

These are located across the field so they can collect data from the environment and send it to the cloud (or smart device).

People use these measurements to understand the climate conditions, determine the appropriate plants, and take the required measures to boost their capacity.

Greenhouse automation

IoT helps to monitor the situation in real-time even when farmers are not around, so conditions such as temperature, light, humidity, and soil condition are not a problem anymore.

In addition, weather stations can adjust the environment to match these parameters. Greenhouse Automation system uses this principle.

Bettering crop management

With IoT merchandise in the agriculture systems, you can monitor crop growth and other anomalies in order to prevent any disease or infestation that can harm the yield.

Cattle monitoring and management

Comparable to crop monitoring, IoT agriculture sensors can also be attached to animals on a farm, so farmers get to monitor their health and log performance. This sensor can identify sick animals so farmers can separate them and avoid any contamination.

Precision farming is all about productivity and effectiveness. As you get accurate data, you can make accurate decisions.

Agricultural drones

Agricultural drones, also known as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), are one of the most promising agritech advancements in smart agriculture. Drones can perform a vast number of tasks without human labor.

If you need to collect data, planting plants, crop monitoring, and agriculture spraying, a drone is an answer.

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About the Author

Cesar Agostino

Hardware and Software Design Leader in 4i Platform.

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