More than 10,000 years ago, humans began practicing agriculture. We spent roughly the first 5,000 of those years domesticating local plants and animals. We\u2019ve spent the last 50 pursuing aggressive transformations in the agricultural sector \u2014 replacing manual labor with advanced machinery and hunch-based planting schedules with precision farming software.<\/p>\n
Today, for example, there are over one million scientific articles with details on tomato growth factors and favorable growing conditions. But growing a ripe fruit on the first try is still hard.<\/p>\n
I once planted some tomato seeds in a pot. After months of tending, obsessive watering, and plenty of fidgeting, my crop suddenly fell victim to some unknown disease and dried up before bearing any fruit.<\/p>\n
My personal agricultural skills are nowhere close to those of today\u2019s professional farmers. Yet this attempt is a nice illustration of the perils of growing food. Our society has advanced tremendously in terms of technology, but are we doing enough to improve one of the oldest and most important vocations?<\/p>\n
Precision farming technologies have been rapidly developing over the past ten years. Yet only a fraction of pilots make it to land plots. What is feasible today and why should agricultural leaders double-down on tech adoption?<\/p>\n
Precision farming (or precision agriculture) is an umbrella term for a collection of farming management<\/a> practices and technological solutions aimed at measuring, observing, and optimizing inter- and intra-field crop variability.<\/p>\n In other words, precision farming in agriculture is a data-driven approach to improving the survival and fertility of the food we grow and cherish. We face the same problems as our ancestors \u2014 unforeseen weather changes, progressive soil degradation, and an army of critters eager to devour our crops.<\/p>\n What\u2019s different is that modern farmers don\u2019t perform rituals to please the benevolent gods. Instead, they rely on precision farming technology to do the \u201cmagic\u201d for them \u2014 predict crop yields, suggest optimal irrigation schedules, and improve planting patterns.<\/p>\n Precision agriculture software includes a combination of technologies and solutions:<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot of gizmos for something that only required a spade and some seeds, right? So do you really need all these novelties? Perhaps.<\/p>\n Learn about the various types of agricultural software<\/p>\n Since the 1960s, agricultural yields per person have doubled. But so has the global population.<\/p>\n This temporary state of equilibrium isn\u2019t good enough. In the short-term perspective, we\u2019ll need to boost food production by 60% and, in some areas, by 100% to meet the growing demand for nourishment according to P. V. Vara Prasad, a crop ecophysiologist at Kansas State University, Manhattan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, past increases in agricultural productivity have mostly been achieved by using harmful, climate-disrupting methods.<\/p>\n\n
The benefits of precision agriculture<\/h3>\n
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