IOT in farming

IoT in Farming is anticipated to be that catalyst for change.

It will provide many opportunities to improve resource and labour efficiencies through enhanced monitoring and decision Support systems.

We will see the use of simple sensors for simple tasks, for example, checking that all roadside gates are closed at night. We will also see highly intelligent farm management software that integrates on- and off-farm data and displays key information to support farmers in daily operational and tactical management decisions.

The initial value proposition of IoT systems is the significantly lower costs of sensors and data transmission. IoT promises operating costs at a fraction (perhaps a tenth) that of current precision farming systems, which is essential in our low-cost farming operations.

Farmers handy with their smartphone or computer should experience few new issues with IoT, but there will be limitations. IoT is unlikely to be suitable for all applications, such as those requiring constant reporting of sensor data, transmission of large amounts of data or coverage of areas in ‘blackspots’ (e.g. gullies).

Current monitoring systems may have a role here, separately or integrated with an IoT system.

Many new IoT-ready devices will soon appear on the market with much fanfare and hype. It’s important to keep in mind that data collection is the easier part of the system. The real art and value of these data-rich systems is in interpretation and simple decision-ready information.

That requires technology providers to develop smart software that is designed for the needs of our farmers and their farm systems.

Like many of you I’m very keen to see how well this ‘new mouse trap’ will work. Who knows, in the future the the phrase may be ‘it’s the best thing since IoT’.

The Internet of Things

You may have heard or read about it but just what is it and how might it help you on the farm? What do you need to know?

• Number crunching: It’s about harnessing all the numbers on the farm and helping with farm-wide data monitoring, automation of tasks, and integrated intelligent decision support systems.
• A digital rural network: Connects a large number of low-power, low-cost and low-data sensors over distances in excess of 20km.
• Support systems: Could be great support for both new and existing farm monitoring and management systems.
• Will it help? To be of any use it will need to involve data integration from multiple systems, boost decision support, help with timelines, and be farmer-friendly.
• The end goal: A centralised, farm-wide system integrating on- and off-farm data to support efficient resource use, best practice animal and environmental management, and farm-to-market transparency.

Sourced from stuffsnz

We provide custom and off the shelf sensors based on Sigfox, LorA and Zigbee for smart farming applications, along with the dashboard software for monitoring and control

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