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5 Sensor Techs Helping Agtech CIOs Trigger a Farming Revolution

Enterprise Technology Review | Thursday, September 19, 2019

Sensor technology in farming provides the ability to monitor a variety of parameters vital for ensuring crop wellbeing and growth.  

FREMONT, CA: With the rapid development of precision technology based on sensors, agrarians are achieving successful crop production. Digital data about soil conditions, weather, and crop health are helping modern farmers optimize their yields and achieve a high level of farm productivity. As a result, agriculture is being modernized and is increasingly relying on technologies. Sensors are among the essential tools in modern agriculture management. Smart sensors used in precision agriculture help farmers optimize crops and keep up with the changing environmental factors. Below are some of those intelligent sensing technologies that CIOs can contemplate to trigger a high--tech agricultural revolution.

• Optical Sensors

There are several optical sensors used in agriculture, from sensors used to analyze soil attributes to sensors measuring protein content in crops while they are being harvested. They also help in assessing the amount and quality of crops growing in the field. They are important to farmers as they allow them to allocate nutrients accurately, and design fertilizers and chemical treatments based on needs. All these applications are essential as agriculture attempts to pacify the twin demand for enhanced production and increased sustainability. Investing in optical sensors is a significant step forward for farmers which will enable them to measure and manage their crops to match higher level precision than that was previously possible.

• UAV Sensors

Sensor Tech

With the help of multispectral imaging technique, sensors on agricultural drones allow farmers to manage crops, soil, and irrigation more effectively. They offer considerable benefits to both the farmer and the broader environment by minimizing the use of sprays, fertilizers, wastage of water, all while increasing the crop yield. Remote sensing imaging in UAV sensors can capture both visible and invisible details of plants and vegetation using infrared wavebands. These devices, integrated with specialized agricultural software, can output insights with meaningful data. This will allow the grower to monitor, plan, and manage the farm, effectively saving time and money along with reducing the use of pesticides.

 

• Environmental Variable Sensors

The precision farming goal is to maximize the productivity of the crops while minimizing the use of resources. New types of environmental variable sensors are the proposed kind of agricultural technology which increases productivity. They take measures of the environmental variables in farms and identify areas of the crop with inadequate irrigation or under germination risks to take further preventive actions—offering better growing conditions, amble germination time, and faster growing and better efficiency.

• Acoustic Sensors

Acoustic sensors have several applications in farm management. These sensors can detect the plant geometric structure by emitting an ultrasonic wave signal to the crop. The information captured by extracting features from echo signal into a geometric feature is related to the foliage structure, including size, shape, orientation, and overall positioning of leaves. Acoustic sensors' application includes soil fertilization, weeding, herbicide application, fruit harvesting, and grain and forage harvesting.

Sensor technology innovations are rising as agriculture's most valuable allies as they can assist agricultural practices and make them more efficient, and their production systems become more sustainable. In the era of digital farm technologies and data-driven decisions, business leaders who offer robust farming solutions only can lead the high-tech agricultural revolution.  

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