loT in Agriculture Solutions from AgTech Startups

The growing world population means that food production will have to increase to meet the growing demand. ICTs are touted as one of the boosters and possible contributors to increased agricultural productivity.

In a recent blog, it has been argued that the Internet of Things is one of such technologies to be watched.

The Internet of Things in agriculture is construed as a “group of technologies that include soil sensors, cameras, weather stations and other technological gadgets that gather data about farming activities”.

The data obtained is analysed by algorithms and other software and various insights gleaned from it, such as missing soil nutrients and threats from pests.

IoT applications in Agriculture

A number of agricultural technology startups are already testing and researching for Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for agriculture. We summarize 6 such solutions:-

• IoT in Agriculture for Dairy Operations – In India, Stellapps raised $14 million to invest in sensors that collect data across the entire cow supply. Collected data is stored in the cloud and used for cloud-based systems doe livestock monitoring.Stellapps has provided a suite of applications using their cloud data and loT solutions.
• loT in Agriculture for Weather Prediction at the Farm – In New Jersey, Arable has raised $8.9 million for crop and weather sensor they named the Mark. The Mark can collect about 40 different types of weather related data.
• IoT in Agriculture to Monitor Grain Storage – Post harvest loses are prevalent in many agricultural zone throughout the world. Startup Telesense at the Silicon Valley procured 46.5 million to develop a sensor ball which is tossed onto a pile of grain, the sensor transmits data multiple times per day on temperature and humidity in the storage facility. This is estimated to avoid spoilage, pests and can avoid more than $12 billion losses each year.
• IoT in Agriculture for Pest Management – In Israel, a start-up called FieldIn has raised $5 million to help vineyards and orchards growers to manage pest control. Special sensors monitor pesticide applications and transmit data that is used to determine more precisely the pesticides to be applied. In a related application, Blue River Technology has devised a computerized weed control.
• IoT in Agriculture for Utility Management – In San Francisco, Wexus Technology which raised $4.8 million connects a farm’s utility data to track irrigation pumps, buildings, processing equipment and solar arrays via cloud technology. This allows remotely tracking irrigation pumps efficiency and alert maintenance needs. This allows for efficiency and cost saving within the farm.
• IoT in Agriculture for Drone Deployment – Drones have grown useful in monitoring farmland in order to identify problems and to improve the yields. AgEagle Aerial Systems builds drones capable of collecting thousands of ultra-high-resolution pictures using sophisticated sensors that collect data that can be analysed by computers to determine crop health.

These above are few examples of how IoT is applied in agriculture to improve efficiency or improve yields. Do you have examples of the application of IoT in agriculture, why not drop us an e-mail? 

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