IoT Startups That Are Reshaping Agriculture

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IoT Startups That Are Reshaping Agriculture

For farmers and agriculture startups, the Internet of Things (IoT) offers the opportunity to take part in another Green Revolution.

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Precision agriculture is the term often applied to IoT-based farming. What that means is using sensors and other technology to improve agricultural production, involving all fertile land available, and automating as many tasks as possible to leave farmers with more time to analyze and implement technology.

For farmers, that also means not having to hire more farmhands at planting and harvest seasons. Big-data analytics can review weather forecasts and patterns to predict optimal periods to get seeds in the ground and when to harvest.

There are four key areas for precision agriculture: Productivity, pest control, water conservation, and continual value.

  Topcon Precision Agriculture  is among the crop of companies offering products and services in this field to help with these objectives. The Japan-based company, whose expertise is in geo-positioning, offers everything from mapping, design and layout services, to inspection. The company claims accuracy of between 4 to 10 centimeters.

Venture capitalists have grown interested in the field, making equity investments in companies like AgriSight (doing business as  FarmLogs ) and  Conservis.

There are many more startups here, as well.  Pessl Instruments  has collaborated with Huawei Technologies to connect soil moisture sensors, remote weather stations and other Internet nodes through narrowband IoT connectivity.

PTC’s  ThingWorx  technology platform is addressing “Smart Agriculture,” among other industries. The company has developed an IoT platform for monitoring, managing and controlling connected devices, which can be integrated with third-party systems.

Likewise, the open-source Kaa IoT Platform can be configured for sensor-based field and resource mapping, remote equipment monitoring, remote crop monitoring, predictive analytics for crops and livestock, climate monitoring and forecasting, livestock tracking and geofencing, keeping statistics on livestock feeding and produce, along with smart logistics and warehousing.

Blue River Technology  is offering its “See & Spray” technology that uses computer vision to identify individual plants that may be in need of chemical treatment. The company has attracted investments from Data Collective Venture Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Khosla Ventures, and Pontifax AgTech.

And  Naio Technologies  markets agricultural and viticultural robots for weeding and for working in vineyards. The startup has raised more than $4 million from business angel investors, crowdfunding, and other sources.

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IDTechEx predicts the precision agriculture market will increase to $10 billion by 2022. Other market research firms have similar forecasts.

Marketsandmarkets.com this year said the “smart agriculture” market will be worth $18.45 billion in 2022, enjoying a compound annual growth rate of 13.8% over seven years.

WinterGreen Research estimated the worldwide market for agricultural drones is $494 million at present, growing to $3.69 billion by 2022.

Susan Eustis, lead author of the drone study, said in a statement, “Transparency is one of the benefits of IoT that drones bring to digital farming.

The benefits of digital farming are higher productivity and more efficient use of land, water, and fertilizer. Transparency in farming is being asked for by consumers. 

Consumers want to know where their food came from, how much water and chemicals were used, and when and how the food was harvested. They want to know about consistent refrigeration during transport.”

What’s driving this growth and innovation? More mouths to feed on Planet Earth. “We need to boost food production by 70% by 2050,” IDTechEx’s Ghaffarzadeh said.

Accenture Digital noted that the world’s population is expected to rise from more than 7 billion people now to 9.6 billion by 2050. Middle-class families, which can afford to spend more on groceries, will contain some 5 billion people by 2030, according to Accenture.

Conclusion

Farming is one of the oldest vocations on the planet, but it also is one where technology adoption has been limited. While GPS-driven tractors are being adopted, the next phase of data-driven technology will transform agriculture into a precision commercial operation where crop yield is much more predictable.

That will have a bearing not only on what technology gets adopted, but on the skills and training of the people using that technology, as well.

Source: Semiconductor Engineering

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