For more than 13,000 years, agriculture has had the task of feeding the world's population. What had previously been solved more efficiently by hunters and gatherers was gradually taken over by agriculture. As the global population grows, space for arable land is becoming increasingly scarce everywhere, and land must be used optimally to remain able to feed people in the future.
In addition, competition in agriculture is intense, and especially the large discount retailers keep pushing food prices ever lower. For farmers, this means they must optimize processes in many different areas to get the highest yield from their land while maintaining top quality.
At the same time labor costs are being minimized and the farmer is becoming a multifunctional specialist. The farmer must be familiar not only with machinery and agricultural products but also with mechatronic systems, sensors, software and increasingly large projects. The digitization of this sector has long been underway and new, more efficient technologies maximize yields.
Digital Farming
The term "digital farming" summarizes this process. In crop farming, drones and satellite technology are now being used to monitor fields and collect data. 9% of farmers are already using drones and about 5% hire service providers to perform these tasks. When monitoring with drones, fields can be inspected from the air; among other things, this enables farmers to rescue fawns from mowing deaths and to determine, from the color and condition of the fields, which measures need to be taken to optimally tend the field.
Nearly a third of farmers who use drones encounter wildlife with them, whether to protect the animals from machinery or to protect the crops from wildlife. They are also used to release beneficial organisms to biologically control certain pests. Another scenario is mapping one's own fields and monitoring the stands of the plants that have been applied. The development of the corresponding software and its implementation in the company is carried out by IT specialists. Especially in this area there are stillmany open positionsand much potential waiting to be tapped.
Using sensors to achieve the highest quality
Sensors are becoming increasingly comprehensive: sensors measure soil conditions and independently decide whether areas need fertilization and irrigation. Very little is left to chance when it comes to soil management. In greenhouses, every tiny adjustment is even tweaked 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 using artificial light. This applies to large greenhouses as well as to small greenhouses for private use.
Robotics and milking systems
Automatic milking systems are increasingly being used, where the robot locates the udder with ultrasound, laser and optical sensors and then docks onto it. This enables flexible milking of the cow and thus more comfort for people and animals. Sensors measure data on weight, milking time, milk yield, blood, fat and protein content and much more. With this data it can be determined how healthy the animal is, whether it poses a risk to the herd and, if necessary, must be isolated. In case of illness, the veterinarian can quickly review the data and, based on it, make decisions about how to restore the animal’s health as quickly as possible and return it to the herd. This avoids treatments of the entire herd, which would otherwise harm the herd’s overall health and ultimately the quality of the product.
Vertical Farming
Another area of modern agriculture is vertical farming: greenhouses are built close to the end customer and, due to insufficient land area, expand not only horizontally but also vertically. The plants are usually supplied fully automatically and can sometimes be harvested several times a year. Through complete control of the plant environment and often hermetic sealing from the outside world, pests are absent and yields are maximized.
Funding by the EU and BMEL
The EU supports efforts to digitalize agricultural businesses. For the EU, an important factor is bringing high technology into this area, which also benefits a broad economic sector. The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture supports the testing and implementation "new digital solution by 2022 with €45 million in funding. In particular, new sensor technologies are being funded, such as near-infrared sensors. Another component of the funding until the end of 2019 was the monitoring of health data and the improvement of animal welfare.
