The Future of Digital Farming and Sustainable Food Chain

Have humans ever given a thought to the eureka moment when they realized that they could grow their food and sustain life? If checked deep into history, humans were the hunter-gatherers, who used to be dependable on the food items grown naturally until one day someone thought of planting a seed.

Approximately 12,000 years ago, humans witnessed the first-ever instances of food production. Today, the population around the globe is increasing day by day. So, the need for improved food production is too high. As per the recent data collected by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in 2019, approximately 690 million people went hungry globally. Therefore, if the world depends on agriculture for its daily food items, it needs to be more sustainable, efficient, and resilient. The way to do this is by introducing digital technologies into the agriculture sector.

What is digital farming?

In simple words, digital framing refers to the use of advanced and new technologies integrated under one system to enable framers and stakeholders within the value chain of the agriculture sector to enhance food production.

Farmers always face problems while deciding the number of fertilizers needed, knowing soil conditions, and checking crop health, among others. However, now the use of digital agriculture is helping in resolving such challenges by collecting the accurate data required by hardworking farmers and passing it on to digital platforms in the quickest time. This data helps the farmers better analyze the situation and make decisions as per the requirements of the crops.

Various technologies such as communication networks, sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, unmanned aviation systems (UAS), and other high-tech types of machinery that work on the principle of the Internet of Things (IoT) are being used in agriculture. Each of the technologies helps provide value to agriculture by collecting, managing, and processing data. The whole process helps the farmers get proper guidance and correct directions toward making better productivity of the crops and lesser failures.

Ways in Which Digital Agriculture Can Improve Farming Productivity

• Soil monitoring:

With the help of various digital agriculture devices, farmers can get accurate information about their plants and the nutrients needed by them. This data can help farmers prepare the field for the healthy growth of the crops. There are currently different types of technologies available that can be used in crop monitoring.

Among those, soil sensors can be one of the technologies that can be placed in the field for getting accurate data on the rainfall and conditions of the soil. This data can be helpful for the farmers to improve the condition of the yields.

• Automated management of field:

Using sensors in fields can help monitor plants and soil conditions easily, which helps make the right required decisions like the correct time for harvesting and fertilizing the crops. Generally, farmers do not know the amount of water their crops need, and they end up overwatering them, which damages the crops. So, digital farming devices will help the farmers get such data beforehand. It will save the failure of the crops from overwatering.

Benefits of Adopting Digital Farming

Digital farming is one of the best ways to increase the efficiency and productivity of farms. Following are the benefits of adopting the digital farming method.

• Expedite communication: Automated workflow can be the most helpful thing for the farming sector. Collecting data about different factors such as climates and soil conditions can be highly time-consuming. With the help of automation, collecting data becomes easier and transferring it to higher authorities becomes quicker. This results in better productivity and communication.
• Effective monitoring: Technology helps farmers accurately scan the health condition of the crops. Drones can be beneficial in predicting the quality of the soil and making plans for planting seeds.
• Time saving: Using the manual method of gathering data may take a lot of time, passing them through various systems. It can result in human errors and delays. On the other hand, with the use of digital mobile applications, farmers can get these data easily transferred from one platform to another without any delays.

As per the BIS Research market report about the digital agriculture global market, the value was $10.00 billion in 2020, but it is expected to reach $22.88 billion in 2026. The growth of the digital agriculture market is attributed to the increasing awareness among farmers and consumers about digital platforms.

The Asia-Pacific region will dominate the digital agriculture market during the forecast period 2021–2026. India is one of the major players in the Asia-Pacific region. As per the Indian Brand Equity Foundation data, 58% of the Indian population depends on farming for their livelihood. The sales of agriculture products are high in these regions.

Conclusion:

Digital technologies have high capabilities of improving the method of crop production. It can help the farmers have better control of what’s happening in the areas based on the information received. With time, technology is getting advanced and, in the coming years, digital technology will play a significant role in the agriculture sector.