November 26, 2015
Carles Clusella, PhD Agronomical Engineer
The internet and smartphones: the present and future of agriculture
The challenges of agriculture in the twenty-first century are many. One of the main challenges will be to feed up to 2,000 million more people in the world by the year 2050. The only way to increase the food production is with more information and knowledge.
The challenges of agriculture in the twenty-first century are many. One of the main challenges will be to feed up to 2,000 million more people in the world by the year 2050. The only way to increase the food production is with more information and knowledge. The information and communication technologies will play a very important role in overcoming these challenges.
The internet, smartphones and agricultural applications are tools that will be the keys to increase the farm efficiency and profitability. Today it is difficult finding a farmer without a smartphone in his pocket and on his tractor. The APPs for mobile phones are becoming an indispensable tool in the daily life of farmers.
In the agricultural sector, what should the success of these tools be? Basically, they allow real-time information that helps in decision making. The second reason is to ease the life of the farmers in the overall management of their holdings.
The use of farm management applications is beginning to become more common among farmers. What people find in such app's is to perform actions such as recording the work and the treatments quickly from the field or check the working history of a parcel once a problem is detected in the crops. Another requirement of the app is the ability to work without data coverage or WiFi, which is still common in many rural areas.
In this way, a farmer is able to carry all the information of his crops in his pocket. Also, it is important that all the data of the treatments, the fertilizers, etc. the mobile phone records from the field can give the farmer an overview of the costs of each parcel, and allow them find out the farm economy situation in every moment.
Besides, all the information stored in the cloud can be easily shared with the technical adviser of the estate. Thus, this can consult the history of a parcel either to prepare visits to the field or automatically generate the notebooks required by the administration.
The internet, smartphones and agricultural applications are tools that will be the keys to increase the farm efficiency and profitability. Today it is difficult finding a farmer without a smartphone in his pocket and on his tractor. The APPs for mobile phones are becoming an indispensable tool in the daily life of farmers.
In the agricultural sector, what should the success of these tools be? Basically, they allow real-time information that helps in decision making. The second reason is to ease the life of the farmers in the overall management of their holdings.
The use of farm management applications is beginning to become more common among farmers. What people find in such app's is to perform actions such as recording the work and the treatments quickly from the field or check the working history of a parcel once a problem is detected in the crops. Another requirement of the app is the ability to work without data coverage or WiFi, which is still common in many rural areas.
In this way, a farmer is able to carry all the information of his crops in his pocket. Also, it is important that all the data of the treatments, the fertilizers, etc. the mobile phone records from the field can give the farmer an overview of the costs of each parcel, and allow them find out the farm economy situation in every moment.
Besides, all the information stored in the cloud can be easily shared with the technical adviser of the estate. Thus, this can consult the history of a parcel either to prepare visits to the field or automatically generate the notebooks required by the administration.
