For more than 13,000 years, the task of agriculture has been to feed the world's population. What was previously solved more efficiently by hunters and gatherers was gradually taken over by agriculture. With the growing global population, however, space for arable land is becoming increasingly scarce everywhere in the world, and land must be used optimally to remain capable of feeding people in the future.
In addition, competition in agriculture is high, and large discounters in particular want to set food prices ever lower. For farmers, this means they must optimize processes in a wide variety of areas to achieve the highest yield from the land while maintaining the highest quality.
At the same time, personnel costs are being minimized, and the farmer is becoming a multi-talented professional. The farmer must be familiar not only with machines and agricultural goods but also with mechatronic systems, sensors, software, and increasingly large-scale projects. The digitalization of this industry has long been underway, and new, more efficient technologies are maximizing yields.
Digital Farming
This very process is summarized under the umbrella term of digital farming. In field farming, drones and satellite technology are now being used to monitor fields and collect data. 9% of farmers are now using drones, and approximately 5% hire service providers to perform these tasks. When monitoring with drones, fields can be checked from the air; this allows the farmer, among other things, to save fawns from being killed during mowing and to decide, based on the coloring and condition of the fields, which measures must be taken to optimally care for the field.
Almost a third of farmers who use drones encounter wild animals, whether to protect them from machines or to protect the plants from the wild animals. They are also used to release beneficial insects to biologically combat certain pests. Another scenario is the mapping of one's own fields and inventory control of the planted crops. The development of the corresponding software and its implementation in the company is carried out by IT specialists. Especially in this area, there are still many job openings and a lot of potential that wants to be tapped.
Highest quality through sensor technology
Sensor technology in particular is becoming increasingly extensive; sensors measure soil conditions and decide for themselves whether areas need to be fertilized and irrigated. Especially in soil care, almost nothing is left to chance anymore. In greenhouses, every smallest adjustment screw is turned to bring the end product to the highest quality, with measurements sometimes taken for each individual plant to determine what it needs and to provide the optimal nutrient mix. Added to this are humidity, temperature, sunlight supply, and, if necessary, adjustments via artificial light. This applies to large greenhouses, but also to small greenhouses for private use.
Robotics and milking systems
Automatic milking systems are being used more and more frequently, in which the robot uses ultrasound, lasers, and optical sensors to locate the udder and dock onto it. This allows for flexible milking of the cow and thus more comfort for both human and animal. Sensors measure data on weight, milking time, milk quantity, blood, fat and protein content, and much more. With this data, it can then be determined how healthy the animal is, whether it poses a risk to the herd, and whether it needs to be isolated. In case of illness, the veterinarian can quickly view data and make decisions based on it on how the animal can recover as quickly as possible and be returned to the herd. This avoids treating the entire herd, which would otherwise suffer in terms of health and, ultimately, product quality.
Vertical Farming
Another area of modern agriculture is vertical farming; here, greenhouses are built close to the end customer and, due to a lack of sufficient land area, grow not only in width but also in height. The plants are usually supplied in a fully automated manner and can sometimes be harvested several times a year. Through complete control of the plant environment and usually hermetic sealing from the outside world, pests are non-existent and the yield is maximized.
Support from the EU and BMEL
The EU is promoting efforts to digitalize agricultural businesses. For the EU in particular, an important factor is to introduce high technology into this sector as well, which also acts as a stimulus for a broad economic sector. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is funding the testing and implementation of new digital solutions with 45 million euros in funding until the year 2022. In this context, new sensor technologies, such as near-infrared sensors, are being promoted in particular. Another component of the funding until the end of 2019 was the monitoring of health data and the improvement of animal welfare.
