3 uses of IoT in agriculture that will shape the future of farming

Just like many industries right now, such as health care, manufacturing, and home gadgets, agriculture is changing fast to fit the requirements placed on it by the growing population around the world. With such a heavy demand on food to sustain life, agriculture is now looking at new ways to help increase productivity while decreasing waste and risk. IoT in agriculture seeks to help farmers with all sorts of important tasks like pest management, greenhouse supervision, water usage, animal monitoring, weather checks, and more.

We’ll discuss the future of IoT in agriculture and some use cases for how this new innovation is being employed in the industry.

Pests like aphids, spider mites, locusts and crickets can destroy crops and ruin livestock for years to come. Manual pest control methods by farmers are typically quite time-consuming and sometimes ineffective. In some cases, even healthy crops can be damaged by mistake or problems can only be noticed when it’s too late. To combat these issues, IoT agriculture sensors are able to provide real-time data regarding crop and livestock health and any existence of pests. These sensors often find pests that aren’t easy to spot and check if certain weather patterns or any other factors make pests more widespread.

Agriculture IoT companies have been working on ways to ensure water usage stays at just the right level on farms. Sensors can measure soil moisture in order to gauge if any crops are being overwatered or perhaps underwatered. In some farms, sensors can be placed around fruit trees to check water levels. Connected to sprinkler systems, water can be turned on or off automatically to reduce waste. This is one of many manual tasks that IoT in agriculture can prevent farmers from having to complete.

Farmers are better able to keep track of the health and whereabouts of grazing animals using IoT agriculture sensors. Cows and sheep, for example, can wear unobtrusive collars with tracking capabilities to help find lost animals and even display useful data about popular grazing areas. Certain IoT sensors can even be safely placed into the body of these animals and display information when an animal appears sick.

Many farmers have already found success using IoT technology and made the advancements necessary to sustain the requirements placed on farms by the growing world population. Although switching to the Internet of Things may have some teething problems for farmers at first, these smart farming methods can only help to meet demands, save time, promote sustainability, and reduce manual labour. The future of IoT in agriculture will get better and more innovative, paving the way for new types of drones, sensors, cameras and more devices capable of providing real-time data. This will allow farmers to make important decisions and changes for the benefit of everyone.