Agriculture remains the most important source of food. With the growth of the world’s population, its optimization is one of the ways to ensure food security. It is impossible to cope with this task using traditional methods. Therefore the role of agrotechnology is increasing. Artificial intelligence, along with new engineering technologies, brings agriculture to a fundamentally new level, allowing you to solve the following tasks:
- control the amount of the crop;
- increase the profitability of production;
- improve product quality;
- use resources more efficiently;
- minimize harm to the environment.
You can find out more about the importance of agricultural technologies here. In this article, we will talk about the trends that are already changing agriculture around the world.
Indoor Vertical Farming
This type of farming is an effective way to solve the problem of limited space and reduce the impact on the environment. Indoor vertical farming is all about arranging plants on shelves one above the other in a specially designed and controlled environment. In this way, farmers can significantly reduce the size of the area involved. A small room with high ceilings is suitable for production. Therefore, this type of farming is perfect for the city and allows you to grow plants in a wide variety of places, for example, on balconies or rooftops.
Also, many units do not require soil and are hydroponic or aeroponic. The first type is unique water bowls where plants are placed; the latter periodically spray the roots with water and nutrients. At the same time, vertical farms use 70 percent less liquid than traditional ones. Artificial lighting is often used instead of sunlight, but the total energy costs are much lower than conventional farming methods.
Rational use of resources helps optimize production costs, and growing plants in a controlled environment helps stabilize the quality and quantity of the crop.
Livestock Farming Technology
Modern technologies are not actively penetrating the sphere of traditional animal husbandry. However, this production sector is an essential source of renewable resources, so the more actively we modernize this industry, the better.
Technology improves livestock management and tracking. Today, some enterprises begin to use sensors to monitor animal health. With their help, farms can analyze other indicators of animal activity and, on their basis, make management decisions. Also, modern science allows you to monitor the genomics of animals, that is, to determine the influence of a genetic factor on the development of livestock shortly.
Thus, the modernization of animal husbandry can bring the industry to a new level. Note that technologies allow not only to optimize and increase production but also to improve livestock welfare.
Modern Greenhouses
Until relatively recently, greenhouses were mainly used for research purposes or in botanical gardens. However, today large enterprises use them more actively in production. First of all, modern technologies contribute to this trend. Greenhouses increasingly use LED lighting and automated control systems, which can significantly improve production productivity. In addition, greenhouses allow you to grow plants at any time of the year, which is also highly beneficial for large agricultural producers. Therefore, greenhouses attract significant capital and gradually begin to compete with traditional farming.
Artificial Intelligence
AI technologies allow you to optimize any branch of agriculture, solving many problems. Agriculture monitoring is an example. This technology assumes the analysis of satellite data, based on which it is possible to obtain information about:
- soil quality;
- weather forecast;
- climate change;
- the state of agricultural machinery.
All this contributes to the growth of production efficiency and helps to reduce the cost of operating the equipment to get greater profits due to the development of production. In doing so, the technology contributes to sustainable farming that tackles environmental problems.
In addition to agriculture monitoring, agricultural companies use robots, which take on some people’s work. With a steadily growing urban population, it is imperative to reduce the burden on farmers. By automating production, they can effectively solve managerial and production problems with small forces.
Blockchain
This technology allows you to track company data to protect against unauthorized access. We can utilize these innovations in agriculture to fight food fraud, improve supply chain efficiency, and create a premium product market. The blockchain structure guarantees all participants in the process the ability to securely exchange data, track their and partner actions, and protect property rights. Thanks to this technology, farmers can follow the path of their products from the field to the consumer’s table in real-time. Moreover, in the end, we get the most transparent food market.
Thus, modern technology in agriculture enables agricultural producers to increase productivity and economic profitability. However, for an effective result of innovations, it is important to clearly understand the direction of production development and the trends of modern agriculture.
At the same time, it is necessary to remember about social responsibility and strive for sustainable agriculture, which will ensure the rational use of natural resources and minimize the negative impact on the environment. In this matter, modern technologies are also of great assistance to agriculture. They create alternative production sources, optimize the consumption of natural resources, and provide data on which farmers can operate sustainably.
