Are Digital Technologies For The Future Of The Agriculture Industry?

Modern day farming has transformed from the farming process of last century. Instead of farmers producing for their families, farmers are now similar to input/output managers supplying massive manufacturers that feed the country.

The records of the last census taken todays population is approximately 7 billion. To put it into perspective of the amount of work farmers take into hand the average farmer feeds 155 people one their own. (“Comparing Agriculture of the Past to Today”) . Notice that a census is only taken on the people of the world, but farmers and their operations are not separately accounted for. “It is impossible to calculate the exact number of farms and farmers in the United States.” (Conkin 147). Of course farmers do not use the simplistic technology of the past to achieve these high expectations. Farms implement the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to improve crop production. The GPS is a system that uses satellite signals to find the location of a radio receiver. (“The Science and Technology of Agriculture”) Using biotechnology has also became an interesting subject of big time farmers. This is the changing of genetic material if living things to improve the production of the product. An example of a GMO would be crops that have been modified to be resistant to disease. Disease resistant crops are one of the most widely used in the field of GMO’s. (“The Science and Technology of Agriculture”).

From pulling the ploughs with cows in the 18th century to monitoring the entire farm with mobile apps today, technology has changed farming and food production greatly for the people. However, technology in food production has long been the center of heated conversations and endless debates. How has such technology influence the lives of people today, as well as the environment they live in? Michael Specter in his article “Roundup and Risk Assessment” argues that technology in farming, such as herbicides, are beneficial to the general population, while Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma:

Local farmers tend to be more expensive than big corporation produce due to lack of economies of scale and due to the traditional ways of farming which is less efficient thus cornering some farmers to give up in the face of bigger competition. These few corporations that now control the market have benefitted from economies of scale and made it much harder for new entrants to compete since they use technological advances to stay efficient and mass produce so they can sell at cheaper price. All this said, shows that the agribusiness is evolving and making great use of technology whether it’s to increase yield or make perfect produce. But have we stopped and thought about our

Georgia’s rich history of agriculture is most notably depicted through the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney and Catherine Greene which significantly increased cotton yield to 50lbs per day. Agricultural technology has propelled society forward; from population increase, a broader job market, in addition to increasing the overall yield of crops. Modern technology is to be credited for our ability to develop more efficient and sustainable ways to improve agriculture, like through the use of crop and soil sensors that help Georgia farmers cater to the specific needs of their crops, in addition to research being done to combat the damaging effects of soil depletion in Georgia.

Precision farming refers to using data and technology to help guide strategic decisions about planting and growing crops. Enhanced mapping and electronic monitoring of yield are both examples of precision farming. Enhanced mapping is made possible through a combination of satellite photographs, ground monitoring devices and GPS targeting (Searle 2). Electronic monitoring of yield is carried out during harvests. Because devices are able to record exactly how much is harvested and then the data is collected can be combined with enhanced mapping to help farmers choose the best areas of their land for planting specific crops. Bioengineering involves the use of genetically modified seeds. The seeds used to grow crops can be modified to increase pest resistance, enhance drought tolerance or yield output that is fortified with nutrients that aren’t naturally found in that specific crop (Ruttan

Modern agricultural technologies goals is to obtain the highest yields and get the highest economic profit as possible

One that stood out was the horse drawn tool and the reaper, “This new tool had sharper blades that cut through the thick prairie roots found throughout the Midwest. Another important tool that defined this period in Midwest farming was the reaper, a device that could cut grain better than the scythe” (Argo, Web). These tools are what started the evolution of farming allowing it to grow at a rapid pace once they started becoming more innovated. From my readings in farming the essentials are not productivity but how you execute it and how you are able to build on top of that applying the technologies that are being provided. It is crucial for a lot of these struggling farmers to be able to keep up with technologies or even be ahead of them before your competitor to stay in the business. Throughout this paper we will gradually see that technology place a tremendous role on in agriculture and food, especially as the population continues to grow so rapidly and food can only be produced so fast, “The first goal of agricultural development is to produce sufficient food and other agricultural commodities to satisfy the needs and preferences of the growing human population”

"GPS systems in agriculture are just crazy on how they work. It is crazy today to think that a tractor or a piece on farm equipment can actually drive it self. GPS is a Global Positioning System it uses satellite to tell you where you at and now will drive the tractor from point A to point B with the touch of a button. I will explain how GPS works, how GSP has change since the first one, and how has GPS changed farming.

Farming, it’s what keeps the Earth’s inhabitants fed. Farming is definitely something that changes over time. It is no question that farmers are now more efficient than ever before. This is in part because of their better machinery and techniques. Many people do not know about the history of farming. Farming truly is what it is today because of where it was in the past. The main things to change over time consist of crop differences, farmers and land, and the tools that were used to cultivate and harvest the land. The Native Americans and early Americans made many improvements to farming and farming technology, which is the reason for why farming is what it is

Modern technology is already being used in agriculture. The best example is the use of gene technology or what’s popularly known as agricultural biotechnology in developing drought and herbicide resistant crops. Through genetic engineering, scientists have been able to introduce traits into existing genes to make crops resistant to drought and herbicides. One good example is the use of Bacillus Thuringiensis, commonly known as Bt. Bacillus Thuringiensis, is a bacterium that dwells in soil. It acts as a reservoir “of cry toxins and cry genes for production of biological insecticides and insect-resistant genetically modified crops.”

The IoT’s job is becoming more vital in rendering access to devices and machines which existed manufacturing systems are hidden in well-designed storage towers (silos). This advancement can allow the IT further to come into the digitized manufacturing systems. The entire range of applications which can run around the production shall be connected to factory via the IoT. This would range from connecting the factory to the smart grid and sharing the production facility as a service. In this context, the production system would be though as one of the many IoTs. A new ecosystem for smarter and more efficient generation could be defined.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing how most industries do business and promises a significant return on investment (ROI) in operational efficiency, improved customer experience, risk mitigation, and enabling entirely new business models. The sheer volume of new devices on the network driven by IoT will evolve the scale and range of deploying devices and managing data. Further, recent advances for employing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) within IoT are creating many new opportunities to enhance data analysis and better decision-making. Although the notion of computing based on sensor data from things was not born yesterday, the meteoric rise of IoT has recently become practical because of smaller, faster,

The Internet of Things, or as many people like to call it IoT, is a wide growing industry with technology that is advancing each and every day. Physical objects are becoming mapped with technology that us humans will eventually come in contact with and interact over the internet. The Information Technology world feeds off of this industry because the internet is storing this data that we use, and the IT industry just comprehends it. With more physical objects being mapped in the real world, the IT industry will need more people to help control all of the systems and data that is being used. An example of this is if a company lacked a certain product then that problem would be reported to the company and further deliveries would be conducted (Weber, Pg. 23) This fast growing industry is remarkable, and the developments of the legal, social, ethical, and security, can be just as astounding.

The concept of the internet of things abbreviated as IoT was introduced as early as the late 90’s by Kevin Ashton, the Executive Director of Auto-ID Labs and a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now, “the Internet of things is already a disruptive technology capable of determining fundamental changes that are happening in everyday life, and it is considered the fourth industrial revolution.” (Hucanu) The Internet of Things (IoT)