Big data solutions, cloud software, agricultural drones and precision agriculture are tools for the present and the future, and they are filling more and more of the global population.

It is estimated that by 2050, the global population will exceed 9.6 billion, and they all need to eat.

This will require us to double global food production in just 35 years. The burden is not heavy. Considering that climate change has already had a significant negative impact on crop yields, farmers need to get as much help as possible. In the era of the “Agricultural Internet of Things”, a series of powerful big data tools are helping farmers reduce costs, increase production and address new environmental challenges caused by climate change.

A history of innovation: under the influence of climate change

There is no doubt that agriculture has long since turned to a more data-driven practice. Today's farms are full of amazing construction machinery, thanks to decades of automation and other advanced technologies aimed at producing more food with less manpower. The seeds are automatically sown by the planter with a margin of error of only a few centimeters. The harvester harvests crops under the guidance of a GPS satellite positioning navigation system, achieving incredible precision. Moreover, the expansion of wireless networks (now fully installed in rural areas) can transmit data on soil moisture and other environmental factors, such as weather, to remote servers for analysis.

▲Automatic planter is a real engineering miracle

However, despite the incredible advances in agricultural technology, climate change has led to a changing and/or unfavorable growing environment for crops, and many of the benefits that automation brings to farmers around the world have either begun to vanish. To this end, we need to intensify innovation.

Climate change is affecting crop yields and raising food prices. In some of the world's most important food producing areas, both corn and wheat production have declined. For example, China's corn production has fallen by 7%, and Russia's wheat production has fallen by 14%.

Big Data Agriculture and Agricultural Internet of Things

There are many forms of agriculture, but whether it is a “giant farm” that grows corn or a fine winery that makes wine, there are always several things in common in various forms of agriculture: the importance of crop health, cost efficiency and profitability. demand. If you can't make money, the farm will not be able to operate. The spread of pests and diseases, water scarcity or unevenness, bad weather and expensive fertilizers are just some of the challenges that farmers face in order to ensure profitability.

As mentioned above, although the automation system is amazing and soil science is making significant progress, climate change is making the situation more difficult (depending on the location of the farm). Despite this, some new tools have been launched, giving farmers more weapons to deal with difficult situations, such as drones, low-cost connected sensors and powerful analysis software that can monitor field changes on an hourly basis. Quick response. The term “agricultural Internet of Things” refers to the use of increasingly low-cost networking technologies to increase production (in this case) and help farmers “win the increasingly difficult crop planting competition”.

Climate Corporation is a data modeling company acquired in 2013 by the sustainable agriculture giant Monsato Corporation for $930 million. David Friedberg, the company's chief executive, said well: “Agriculture is shifting from intuitive decisions to analytical decisions.”

"Agricultural drone" era and precision agriculture

UAVs are another big data tool that is becoming more and more convenient for farmers to deploy and is becoming extremely useful, especially in large operations. UAVs can collect aerial data to help farmers better understand and predict crop yields, determine crop health and weed growth, assess pest levels, and perhaps the most important (in terms of environmental sustainability), monitoring Fertilizer and irrigation coverage and application levels. The cost of shooting a crop using a manned aircraft is more than $1,000 per hour, and the cost of using a drone is much lower. You can buy a drone for less than $1,000, depending on the model. However, prior to actual use, users must first apply for and obtain a drone flight license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

▲Drone spraying insecticide, fast, efficient and targeted

Drones can be used to accomplish a wide variety of farming:

From the precise delivery of pesticides and fertilizers to aerial imagery in a variety of formats, drones are working hard to help us improve agricultural efficiency.

In addition to the precise delivery of pesticides, drones also have powerful imaging capabilities, far from being as simple as aerial photographs. The following infrared image was used to identify areas of poor crop health and to distinguish based on chlorophyll levels. Coupled with satellite data and other sensor information, such as moisture levels and fertilizer allocation, you can figure out why the low-yielding areas are:

▲The drone can provide infrared images. The above picture is to detect the chlorophyll level.

to sum up

For agriculture, crop yields and operating costs are key to success. Reducing costs while maintaining or increasing production is an obvious agricultural goal. When profits shrink, the technology that can increase profits will be highly concerned by field workers. To illustrate this, look at the following figures: The net profit from growing corn is $25 to $50 per acre, so a 1,000-acre farm has a net profit of $25,000 to $50,000! Farmers are usually not wealthy. So it is no wonder that they will find ways to use technology to better predict, understand and/or respond to the natural environment, especially if climate change has caused great problems for agricultural production. Big data solutions, cloud software, agricultural drones, and precision agriculture are tools for the present and the future. They hope that they will allow crops to thrive, increase production, and allow more and more of the global population to fill their stomachs.