Digital - Drones, Robots, Video and Data Analytics to support Agricultural industry

There are a number of technologies out there which are typically about improving productivity and efficiencies. These eventually replace and/or reduce the number of humans involved in physical efforts either through mechanisation, robotics or a combination of IT with Automation. There are equally the emerging technologies which are supplementing or complementing human endeavours to improve the lot of humankind.

One such or a combination that aroused my curiosity was a news item recently on the research being conducted to leverage Drones, Communications Technology, IOT, Satellite and Analytics to improve the yields in farming. It is amazing how Digital technologies are put to use to improve the food security for future generations. Satellite imagery and #GIS being used for improved management of Agricultural resources was quite revealing especially in the context of #precision #farming. (http://www.satimagingcorp.com/applications/natural-resources/agriculture/)

Add Robots to this! Fruit-picking, sheep-shearing and automatic milking has been there for some time now. However I was quite fascinated to hear about robots with digital #cameras which are used to #scan fields, and together with a computer analysis identifies crops from weeds. It then uses its blades to cut off the weed (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-33078857).

There are now many mobile apps too. One such is an #Irrigation #system #mapper to collect and/or update existing irrigation system features. (http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=8bb4ba260511434c945cab611ff9f6bb). Another one which maps out irrigation zones, and together with embedded computing technology could be used to adjust volumes, directions and sprinkling of water (http://landscapemanagement.net/irrigreen-intros-mobile-app-for-irrigation-system/). The benefits of such technologies are extremely useful in many drought-prone regions within India.

It is encouraging to note the many initiatives undertaken by support organizations that are enabling use of #Smartphone technologies to promote technology usage for irrigation (http://smartirrigationapps.org/science-behind-the-apps/).

The current challenge is in the lack of information dissemination to the poorer farmers in emerging economies who could be enabled the most. Smarter messaging systems could be used to disseminate, educate on how digital could be an acreage productivity multiplier. Farmers can not only avoid losses but more importantly improve their gains with the right use of technologies. Technologies need not be always a labour cost saver such as in emerging economies however; the combination of many Digital technologies could be used to augment for betterment of livelihoods. Farmers in poorer countries could use Cooperative societies which could then help in funding.

There is a tremendous potential for a lot more Digital outcomes enablement in this sector and a few I could think of are:

- Analytics for effective and optimal use of fertilisers

- Weather analytics to determine right crops for the right seasons and localised to an area rather than mass prescriptive crops

- Precision farming enabled by remote sensing of soil nutrient deficiencies

- Analytics for optimum localised water harvesting in drought-prone areas

- And many more ….

The opportunities to transform Agricultural farming with Digital technologies seems to be quite endless.

I am now going to be a keen observer of this space.

About the Author

Jagadish is a Strategic Board adviser, senior Executive leader with specialisation in reimagining business models; who has been successful at building and/or turnaround Practice advisory, Presales, Sales enablement, Solution consulting capabilities for: - Applications & Enterprise applications- Modernising and Transformation to a secure hybrid Cloud- Service Integration and Management in a multi-cloud environment- Digital workplace solutions- Digital transformation using IoT, IIoT, Big Data, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Drones and Robots- IT Infrastructure services More recently, Jagadish has influenced re-imagining a digitally enabled business model for a leading enterprise#IoT, #IIoT, #Bigdata, #Analytics, #artificialintelligence, #drones, #robots, #RPA, #cloud, #hybridcloud, #sales, #presales, #salesenablement, #strategy, #managementconsulting, #boardadvisor, #nonexecutivedirector, #applications, #digitaltransformation, #mixedreality, #integration, #collaboration, #API, #microservices, #marketplace, #solutionconsulting, #servicemanagement, #governance, #riskmanagement, #cybersecurity, #saas, #CRM, #ERP, #customerexperience, #customersuccess