As published in Landbou Weekblad February 2014
Weather models, precision sensors, remote sensors and the science to utilize these complex sets of data, together with cloud computing, mobile apps and especially geospatial technology have the potential to address the complete life cycle of agriculture. As one of the oldest economic practices of human civilization, agriculture, required to double its food production by 2050 to feed 9bn global citizens, is getting a complete technological makeover.
And for the first time, I believe, this makeover is real. All above mentioned technology, plus satellite imaging, soil moisture, leaf moisture, GIS mapping, laboratory analyses, pest & disease scouting, record keeping, weather forecast, weather history, irrigation planning, and many more, have, up to this day, been individually and independently supplied technologies with hosts of complex different software and data to be saved, backed-up, updated and otherwise managed. Subsequently less than 1% of farmers use these precision tools. But with recently developments in in data channel protocols, API’s, software code, cloud computing, SS drives, smart memory, cashing and database management, the technology is now available to create a solution.
The solution is to create something that actually assists the farmer in saving time and not, as is currently the case with the fragmented complex offering of software, a nightmare to use – like many others, I’ve made that experience. Mind boggling is the flood of tech jargon, the first two paragraphs are speckled with it, and it is deterring. But I believe good technology is one, where you don’t see, hear or are confronted with all of that; but one, where you can immediately realize the benefits for your operations. A technology where, without much learning, a window is opened for you and where you feel that you have your finger on the pulse of the important actions on your farm. An eye opener to your crop, where you feel you’ve gained an assistant that helps with making quick and efficient decisions.
This technology exists and is in development. One example: MySmartFarm, a start-up that has recently won the African pitching finals of the IBM SmartCamp, which saw it through to the regional finals in Istanbul, where it won the ‘Public Favourite’. But you will ask, where is the difference to what is already out there? The difference is that all the mentioned high tech and high tech hardware’s data is collated in one, geospatially orientated system, not only for visualization, but also clever interpretation, using coding technology (similar to smartphones), that has the ability to immediately visualize, in a very simplistic manner, all the important aspects of your farm, quickly accessible, intelligent and time saving.
This means for you, no management of data, i.e. automated data capturing, less interpretation, quick and easy access to everything important (laboratory data, short & long term weather forecast and history, soil and leaf moisture, special imaging & mapping, applications & planning, keeping of records and expenses and many more) all in one place. For you it will become a ‘one stop shop all’ solution, which you can use on your mobile phone, tablet, or browser to access everything important and at the same time be sure that all of that data is stored as history for you, while you do nothing, but farming. And the best is, it integrates with your current existing hardware.
The analytics of geospatial information and geo-tagged data has up until now been an untapped potential for agriculture. The combination of all the sources data gives us now the ability to interpret valuable data and compute, in real time, forecasts, warnings and recommendations on plant and soil health/fertility, weather, irrigation, fertilization, pest- and disease control and more. Sounds complex? And yes it is, but not for you as user, it is simple, because you don’t see the complex backend, that smoothly keeps on churning its numbers for you. This is welcoming high tech.
All this, and conservation agriculture moving towards agro-ecology, is not only hugely exciting, it is of downright importance for food security, for a planet faced with growing problems. More on benefits of agro-ecology and how it can be used to increase farmer profits, will follow in my next post.
Wolfgang Johann von Loeper
