Farming in the Digital Age: Exploring IoT-Driven Precision Agriculture

As the global population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, concerns about the sustainability of our current agricultural practices are reaching a critical point. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has projected that by the year 2050, the world's population will reach a staggering 10 billion people, necessitating a 70% increase in food production. This exponential growth in demand for food places a heavy strain on our resources and the environment and highlights the urgent need for sustainable agricultural practices.

These challenges require producers to maximize available resources appropriately to increase agricultural productivity and achieve sustainability using data-driven decision-making. This management system is known as Precision Agriculture.

Precision Agriculture is a management strategy that gathers, processes, and analyzes data to optimize productivity, quality, and crop yields and reduce waste using technology by collecting detailed information about soil quality, climate conditions, and other key factors so producers can make more informed decisions about farming, fertilization, irrigation, and pest management. This approach helps to minimize the use of resources such as fertilizer and water while maximizing the effectiveness of inputs such as seeds and pesticides. Overall, precision agriculture represents a significant shift in how we approach farming, and it has the potential to help us meet the growing demand for food while reducing our environmental impact.

However, precision agriculture involves a complexity of data analysis. Producers need to be able to collect, process, and interpret large volumes of data in real time to make informed decisions about crop management.

The Internet of Things (IoT) can solve the complexity of data analysis. IoT devices and sensors can gather real-time data about soil quality, temperature, moisture levels, and other key factors affecting crop growth and health. IoT-enabled precision agriculture systems can automate many of the processes involved in data collection and analysis, making it easier and more efficient for producers to make informed decisions about crop management.

As a leading agritech company at Koltiva, we are committed to supporting the transition to more sustainable and efficient agriculture practices and are extremely proud to share about IoT devices such as Digital Scale, Portable Soil Analysis, and Weather Station and Soil Analysis.

IoT-Based Smart Agriculture Solutions

These three IoT devices are developed to help producers to be more efficient in the field and increase productivity. Digital Scales can accurately capture data from weighing scales and seamlessly integrate it into smartphones and PCs. They automate recording, calculating, and daily recapitulation so that the transaction processes can be done quickly.

The Portable Soil Analysis is an easy-to-use handheld sensor that provides soil condition readings and recommendations for smallholder producers. It is capable of real-time monitoring and accurate measurement, and it helps producers immediately understand the following action. It cuts down the journey process of traditional methods where the producers need to take a soil sample in the field bring it to the laboratory for measurement and wait for the results.

Moreover, the Weather Station & Soil Analysis is a solar-powered, automatic weather station that can measure atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, wind directions and speed, and rainfall parameters. All of them deliver precise information, offer real-time monitoring, are user-friendly, and provide direct data integration through the dashboard on smartphones and PCs.

"We don't just halt our efforts at that point; instead, we persistently push forward to enhance technology and innovation for upcoming products intended for use by producers. This includes GPS Tracker, Digital Scales + AI Grading, deep development Portable Soil Analysis to be able to read soil organic matter and provide strategy recommendations from the reading results method," said Try Hutomo Putra, IoT Engineer at Koltiva when he explained the future product that he would later develop him and together with his team at Tech Talks Vol #2.

Tech Talks is an internal webinar series designed to bring the latest insights and discussions about our technology to all KoltiSquad team members. Dive deep into the realm of technological advancements that are shaping our industry. This is more than just a one-time event – it's the beginning of an ongoing journey. Our commitment to fostering a culture of learning and innovation drives us to continue these Tech Talk sessions regularly. Stay tuned for further updates on upcoming Tech Talk sessions and be a part of the conversation shaping our technological landscape

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Writer: Chalida Thanisia Yulianti, Public Relations & Event Intern at Koltiva

Editor: Vega Wellingutami, Media Relation & Partnership at Koltiva

Content Source: Try Hutomo Putro, IoT Engineer at Koltiva

1. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Global_Agriculture.pdf

2. https://www.ibm.com/topics/internet-of-things

3. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325532198_Reducing_food's_environmental_impacts_through_producers_and_consumers DOI:10.1126/science.aaq0216

4. https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food

5. K. Harjeet and Deepak Prashar. 2022. Industrial Internet of Things; Technologies, Design, and Applications - Machine Vision Technology, Deep Learning, and IoT in Agricultural Industry. CRC Press. DOI: 10.1201/9781003102267

6. Andri Yadi. 2017. Internet of Things for Agriculture in a Nutshell: Technical Perspective. Presented at INDONESIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE KOORDINASI TIK, Surabaya.