Food and Agriculture

Precision Farming

 

New and better ways of working reduce cost, increase productivity  and are sustainable.
This is why precision farming is a cornerstone of the Smart Villages model. 

 

Precision farming is a management approach that focuses on (near real-time) observation, measurement, and responses to variability in crops, fields and animals. It can help increase crop yields and animal performance, reduce costs, including labour costs, and optimise process inputs. All of these can help increase sustainability, reskilling and profitability. At the same time, precision farming can increase work safety and reduce the environmental impacts of agriculture and farming practices, thus contributing to the sustainability of agricultural production.

 

With Farming Simulators, real life precision agriculture we design and improve agricultural efficiency by using modern technology. To put it simple, the goal is to produce more and better crops using less resources, in other words, make farming more sustainable than in the past. Precision farming is adopted more and more on progressive farms around the world. 

Agriculture is facing major challenges. Farms have to deliver more with fewer resources and at the same time have to take their environmental impact into account. The average age of an European farmer is also growing, the number of farms is declining, and an average agricultural holding is getting larger. We can add the pressures of climate change, reduced access to arable land, increased resource consumption, energy crisis and other trends, like increased competition on food markets. This, combined with long working hours and little time for leisure and time off all makes farming unattractive for younger people. The trend towards more sustainable and green farming is also adding to the burden of competitiveness of farmers. Modern trend of digitalisation is slow to catch on with an aging rural population.  Also low quality or non-existent broadband connections in rural areas are of no help when it comes to introducing new technologies. 

In Smart villages we will address these challenges through precision farming – a novel management approach which will bring a revolution into the field of agriculture. At the basis, precision farming is about using modern technologies and approaches to monitor all aspects of farming and using gathered data to optimise the production, boosting yields and at the same time preserving resources. It also complements the EU’s Food2Fork Strategy, which aims to make the EU food system fair, healthy and environmentally friendly.

Precision farming covers a wide variety of fields from using satellite data and drones for monitoring crop growth to using automated machinery like tractors and irrigation systems to cultivate the fields. Farming management systems can be used to streamline business activities from accounting to personnel inventory. Precision farming has an enormous positive effect on the environment. Farmers can precisely measure pesticide, fertilizer and water usage within a field and decrease their application to a minimum. In other cases, using automatization and robotization, pesticide use can be averted entirely. 

All these factors also make farming more attractive for young people, improve the quality of life for farmers and rural communities, positively affect the environment and support the development of rural businesses. Thus, precision farming truly is a cornerstone of a Smart village. 

 

Technologies:

 

As a perquisite, for the concept to work, robust broadband connections are essential in rural areas, with an emphasis on 5G mobile connections to bridge platforms, services and devices like sensors and machinery, which will require constant remote control and guidance. 

Novel approaches, which are gathered under the precision farming, are described with following terms:

 

• Farm management systems – systems which provide a complete overview and control over all aspects of the production process on the farm and, as a result, lower production risks and expenses and increase productivity. Data analysis and predictive analytics can be used not only to track the state of soil quality, crop growth or animal stock health but also to track business performance, equipment efficiency and similar. 
• Robotics and automatization – from robotic milking systems to autonomous drones and tractors and from irrigation systems to chemical and variable rate seed applicators, robotisation and automatization will relieve farmers from physically and time demanding burdens whilst also decreasing demand for expensive workforce and seasonal workers. 
• Real-time sensors – real time data from sensors will allow farmers to make informed decisions on how to manage their farms. Sensors can detect events or changes in soil, animals, climate, crops and machines, amongst other.
• IoT (Internet of Things) – on farms, devices connected to the internet will inter-connect, and besides gathering information, IoT also allow monitoring and control of many aspects of precision farming – from robots to sensors.
• Precise Weather Modeling – custom made forecasts can help farmers make decisions about irrigation, time to fertilize and to plan for the many other decisions. 
• Direct-to-Consumer online platforms– one of the advantages of digitalisation for farmers is connecting with consumers directly, completely by-passing the middlemen in the form of big supermarket chains. They enable better profits for farmers, consumers on the other side get locally sourced food with an insight into the food supply chain.