Applications and benefits of the Internet of Things in agriculture

According to the United Nations, the world population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050, leading to a 69% increase in global agricultural production from 2010 to 2050. Due to such demand, farmers and agricultural companies are turning to IoT-based applications for analytics and increased production capacity.

We are witnessing an unprecedented level of technology adoption in agriculture. Many of the upcoming agricultural technologies seem to hold great promise for the future of agriculture. IoT was initially considered an emerging agricultural technology, but it has now become mainstream due to its widespread use. In its most basic definition, IoT in agriculture is simply using the Internet to control things.

What is IoT?

In recent years, IoT has emerged as one of the most important technologies of the 21st century. Now, with the ability to connect everyday objects to the internet through embedded devices, including kitchen appliances, vehicles, thermostats, and baby monitors, seamless communication between people, processes, and things becomes possible.

Thanks to cheap computing, cloud computing, big data, analytics, and mobile technology, physical objects can share and collect data with minimal human interaction. In this hyperconnected environment, digital systems can record, monitor, and change every interaction between connected entities. The physical world meets the digital world, and they cooperate.

IoT connects the digital and physical worlds through a range of technologies. Sensors, which can monitor things like temperature or motion, or any change in the environment, are embedded in physical objects, as are actuators, which receive signals from the sensors and then perform some action in response to those changes.

Sensors and actuators communicate with computer systems that can monitor or manage the condition and operation of linked objects and machines via wired (e.g., Ethernet) or wireless (e.g., WiFi, cellular) networks.

The objects monitored by IoT are not limited to man-made objects but can also include natural objects, people and animals. The constant connectivity provided by IoT, when combined with data and analytics, opens up new options for businesses to create products and services, while increasing operational efficiency. Indeed, since the 2010s, IoT has emerged as one of the most important developments in the digital transformation of businesses and the economy.

IoT applications in agriculture

The IoT smart agriculture solution is designed to support field monitoring using sensors and irrigation system automation. Therefore, farmers and associated businesses can easily monitor field conditions from any location.

Following are the different applications of IoT in agriculture:

1. Agriculture and Robots

Since the industrial revolution in the 1800s, automation has improved to perform increasingly complex tasks and increase productivity. With the increasing demand for labor and the global labor crisis, agricultural robots, also known as Agribots, are increasingly popular with farmers.

In the US alone, agricultural production is estimated to fall by $3.1 billion per year due to labor constraints. Agricultural robots have gained prominence thanks to recent breakthroughs in sensor technology and artificial intelligence (AI), allowing machines to train on their environment. We are still in the early stages of an agricultural robotics revolution that will fully realize the potential of IoT in agriculture, with most products still in the testing and development stages.

2. Sensors in agriculture

Today, farmers use sensors, smartphones, and drones to gain in-depth analysis of the terrain and resources at their intended location. Smart agriculture sensors are placed throughout the field to collect and transmit data on various environmental factors to the cloud. This provides accurate information on soil quality, temperature, and other aspects.

3. Drones in agriculture

Drones are being used in agriculture to improve and optimize a variety of farming operations, such as crop monitoring, pesticide spraying, soil analysis, and mapping. In fact, agriculture is one of the pioneers of drone adoption. Drones are equipped with sensors and cameras to capture images, map, and survey farms. These include both ground-based and aerial drones.

Ground drones are mobile robots that survey fields. Meanwhile, aerial drones are flying robots also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Drones can be controlled remotely or autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems, working in coordination with sensors and GPS. Data from drones can provide information on crop health, irrigation, spraying, planting, and soil.

4. Smart greenhouse

Smart greenhouses are capable of automatically adjusting parameters such as temperature, humidity, watering and lighting. This can be done remotely using IoT and connected devices, creating a pest-free and plant-friendly environment.

5. Computer vision in agriculture

Computer vision is the use of camera sensors placed throughout the farm or drones equipped with cameras to capture images for digital image processing. The basic principle of digital image processing is to use computer algorithms to process the input image.

Image processing helps examine images captured at different spectral intensities, such as infrared, analyze images collected over time and detect abnormalities, assess limiting factors and support improved farm management.

6. Application in crop management

Data on crop growth, anomalies, crop health, rainfall, moisture, and climate conditions can aid in crop rotation, management, and monitoring. Crop management technology can be a game changer for farmers, helping them make more profitable decisions.

Benefits of IoT in Agriculture

Applying IoT to agriculture, as in other industries, promises unprecedented efficiencies, resource and cost reduction, automation, and data-driven processes.

However, in agriculture, these benefits are not just about upgrading but also about solutions for the entire sector, which is facing many difficulties and challenges.

1. Delivers superior performance

Agriculture today is a race. Farmers must produce more products while facing depleted soils, reduced arable land, and increasingly variable weather conditions. With IoT-enabled agriculture, farmers can monitor their products and conditions in real time. They gain insights quickly, can identify challenges before they happen, and make informed decisions about how to avoid them. Additionally, IoT solutions in agriculture introduce automation, such as on-demand irrigation, fertilization, and robotic harvesting.

2. Expand the production process

By 2050, when the world’s population reaches 9 billion, 70% will live in cities. IoT-based greenhouses and hydroponic systems enable shorter food supply chains and can deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to these populations. Smart circular agriculture systems enable crops to be grown virtually anywhere, in supermarkets, on the walls and roofs of buildings, in shipping containers, and of course, even in people’s homes.

3. Providing cleaner agricultural products

Smart farming using IoT is a practical solution to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Precision agriculture not only helps farmers save water and energy, making farming more environmentally friendly, but also significantly reduces the amount of pesticides and fertilizers consumed. Compared to conventional farming processes, this strategy results in cleaner and more organic end products.

4. Flexible in responding to weather changes

One of the benefits of using IoT in agriculture is improved operational flexibility. Real-time monitoring and forecasting systems allow farmers to quickly respond to any significant changes in weather, humidity, air quality, or the health of individual crops or soil in their fields. The new capabilities help farmers save crops during extreme weather events.

5. Improve product quality

Data-driven agriculture helps produce more and better products. Using soil and crop sensors, aerial drone monitoring, and farm mapping, farmers can better understand the detailed links between weather and crop quality. Using connected systems, they can recreate optimal conditions and improve the nutritional value of their products.

6. Water conservation

Using weather forecasts and soil moisture sensors, water is used only when and where it is needed. No matter how well you believe you know your surroundings, Mother Nature is a tough nut to crack. What if the weather forecast is wrong? What if it doesn’t rain when you really need it?

What happens if you water when you don't need to? The answer is simple: you can use a rain gauge to measure how much rain falls on your garden and use that information to determine when and how much to water. Rain gauges track rainfall by weighing the drops of water that fall into a specific collector. Some gauges work in tandem with a soil moisture sensor, which is a device that detects the moisture in the soil.

7. Reduce operating costs

Smart agriculture using IoT can help reduce operating costs, such as reducing fertilizer and pesticide use, saving water, reducing labor, etc.

For example, by using an automated system to measure fungicide concentrations in the soil at regular intervals throughout the growing season, growers can adjust their application based on real-time data. Automating the process can significantly reduce resource consumption, human error, and overall costs.

In short, any object that can be controlled via the Internet is called an IoT device. Smart wearables such as smartwatches and smart home management systems such as Google Home have become popular in the consumer market. It is expected that by 2030, there will be more than 30 billion devices connected to the IoT.

The application of IoT in agriculture aims to overcome traditional farming practices to meet increasing demand and reduce production losses. Robots, drones, remote sensors, computer vision combined with continuously improving machine learning and analytics tools are used in agriculture to monitor crops, survey and map fields, providing data for farmers to plan farm management appropriately, saving time and money.

We are witnessing unprecedented adoption of technology in the agricultural sector. Many upcoming agricultural technologies seem to be very promising for the future of agriculture. IoT was initially considered an emerging agricultural technology, but it has now become popular due to its widespread use.

One of the reasons IoT is gaining traction in commercial and local agriculture is smart farming. Farmers can use data collected from various sensors that monitor farm operations and critical conditions to make better decisions to improve crop health and productivity. The adoption of IoT technologies in agriculture will expand, leading to increased productivity and product quality.