Precision Agriculture On The Rise As More Farmers Look To Technology For Help

A growing number of farmers today are becoming interested in using a myriad of technologies to try and improve their business. There are a variety of tools out there available for them today that are marketed towards helping farmers with their crops, assisting them with gathering data, managing resources, crop variability, and much more.

The global market for precision agriculture is expected to almost double by 2023, growing to more than $9.5 billion, with many farmers in the U.S. and Canada being among the first to embrace this way of doing business.

The tools that have become available thanks to technology today, enable farmers to gather detailed data on their crops, the soil, weather, and their animals.

Precision agriculture is a merge between farming and new technology that enables farmers to boost productivity. With the help of GPS guidance, drones, yield maps, and other tech, farmers are able to make better decisions about what they're going to do with their land.

It's estimated that farmers make at least 50 critical decision during every cropping season.

These decisions are detrimental to their overall success and with each poor decision that they make, it can further impact the one that follows. The more information that they have about their crops, the weather etc, the better a decision they can try and make about which direction to go.

A recent report found that agriculture workers and farmers in the U.S. have a higher suicide rate than any other occupation.

There is a lot of difficulty that comes with this way of living and farmers need all of the extra help and savings that they can get. Thankfully, there are a myriad of tools out there today that are available to help them achieve better results with their farming endeavors.

However, one thing that will keep many farmers from embracing precision agriculture is the cost of the tools. If they aren't going to be able to recoup that cost in a reasonable amount of time, then that makes it all the more likely that they won't take the chance to use it at all.

Aside from the high cost related to some of the precision farming tools, there is also the specified knowledge often required to use that technology and so that brings along with it another cost to farmers. Because of the high cost involved with making the change and starting to use the new, more advanced tools as a part of the business operation, it's more often large farms that have been venturing toward precision agriculture before the smaller ones.

By utilizing precision agriculture tools, farmers are better able to control and monitor for pests, manage fertilizer and pesticides, to be able to specifically target problem areas rather than resorting to widespread treatment. They can also manage the data about their farms conveniently from their phone, computer, or tablet etc.

Right now, New Zealand is one country that is said to be leading the race when it comes to adopting precision farming methods.

Farmers there say that they've been able to produce much higher yields and that they've been better able to identify problems by using the various tools available. It isn't just for big farms either, there are many ways that farmers can take small steps to start utilizing more technology to help them get more information about their farming practices.

Farmers around the world are now able to use a variety of apps, drones, and other technologies, that can help them to network with other farmers and share their knowledge and expertise. By being able to better communicate with one another, it might help them to boost their productivity and reap better overall results. With the technology that we have available today it also makes it easy for any farmer, whether in the U.S. or India, to be able to gain an abundance of knowledge about their growing operation right from their own phone.

Pics:
Pixabay

Sources:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/future-of-food/food-future-precision-agriculture/
http://www.farmersreviewafrica.com/kalro-gives-avocado-farmers-reason-smile-launch-new-mobile-app/
https://www.itweb.co.za/content/Pero3qZg2D4vQb6m
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Smartphone-to-help-farmers-test-for-poultry-infection
http://www.kfvs12.com/story/38343870/report-ag-workers-farmers-face-high-suicide-rates
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/new-app-increase-farmer-funding-through-de-risking-agriculture
https://www.futurefarming.com/Smart-farmers/Articles/2018/1/Precision-farming-tools-must-be-affordable-2700WP/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/precision-farming-market-worth-953-billion-usd-by-2023-682180441.html
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-farmers-edge-keeps-focus-firmly-on-what-tech-can-do-for-farmers/

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