Technological solutions are necessary to solve our global agricultural crisis. To meet the rising demand for food while managing the decreasing number of farming resources, the agricultural industry has turned to the power of smart technology to innovate their farming practices.

Since 1990, the global population has grown by over 2 billion people. This growing population requires a reliable food source to survive. Unfortunately, climate change and unequal resource distribution have led to increased food waste while leaving much of the global population hungry. To meet the needs of our growing population, technological advancements in agriculture are necessary. Farmers are turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) to automate specific labor-intensive tasks and employ smart machinery that can save their farms time, money, and resources. According to a Community article by NASSCOM Insights, precision agriculture and smart farming can help farmers “upgrade traditional agricultural practices to accelerate processes, increase efficiency, production, and quality of produce.” Advancements in agricultural technology can help farmers increase their overall production rate while reducing the amount of waste they create.

Currently, the agricultural industry relies heavily on human labor to run. Monotonous work can consume time and energy for small-scale farmers. Doing things by hand can also increase the chances of errors occurring that impact a farm financially. Automation can help farmers to enhance their working conditions by allowing them to delegate repetitive tasks to robots. Automation can also optimize the seeding and planting process, as robots can be designed to space outcrops evenly to get the most use out of the land.

Smart technology can also be used to save water, allowing farmers to grow crops even when they experience infrequent rainfall. Sensors can be placed in the land and programmed to monitor a bevy of conditions, recording the data in a central system that farmers can use to determine the right course of action to increase their harvest while reducing their water use.

Farmers can also utilize smart technology to help them to monitor their livestock. Disease and predators can devastate a farm, causing them to lose their animals as well as a considerable amount of money. Smart sensors can be attached to livestock and programmed to track their bodily conditions, such as heart rate, body temperature, and bowel movements. This data gives farmers insight into the overall health of their animals. If an animal’s condition changes, they will know immediately, which allows them to isolate an animal that is sick from the rest of the herd before a disease can spread throughout the herd. In addition, drones can be used to monitor the hard, which can help keep livestock from getting lost and track predators before they can get to the herd.

Smart technology can help revolutionize farming for the better, allowing us to reduce our impact on the earth while maintaining the agricultural industry. As we occupy more space, the amount of land we can use to farm will inevitably decrease. Therefore, we must invest in technology that enables us to make better use of the space we already occupy while lowering our carbon footprint.