As the world population continues to grow and limited food resources continue to depreciate, innovations in agricultural technology help farmers improve soil health and enhance crop yield.
Innovations in technology have significantly reduced the burden put on the farmer’s shoulders. Nowadays farmers use tractors and other specialized types of machinery to water the crops and apply fertilizers and pesticides uniformly across the entire field.
Agricultural technological advancements have led to higher crop yield, increased worker safety, less chemical runoff, decreased wastage of water and fertilizers, and reduced impact on natural ecosystems.
Now, let’s take a look at game-changing agricultural technological trends emerging in 2023.
Artificial Intelligence- Artificial intelligence aims to provide much-needed assistance to farmers in order to keep up with the increased food demands of an ever-growing population. Many believe that Artificial Intelligence will act as a highly efficient workforce that will assist in tasks such as harvesting crops, fighting pests, managing crop disease, and monitoring soil health. Artificial intelligence in agriculture aims at making operations smarter by integrating robots and drones.
Innovations in crop protection and biofertilizers- Crop protection and biological fertilizer solutions are one of the fastest emerging trends in agriculture. For instance, one of the innovations in biofertilizers is using microbes to enhance the performance of the fertilizer and increase crop yield to match the increased food demand. Meristem has two technological innovations: Bio-Capsule and Microbilize that will introduce soil and crop biologicals into farming practices to increase the performance of the soil across a broad area.
Cloud Computing- Cloud computing is an emerging trend in agribusiness that will allow a farmer to manage vast amounts of data, proprietary business intelligence tools, and predictive intelligence models from the same platform. Cloud computing is expected to lower barriers to innovation within the agriculture ecosystem, reduce the time it takes to see the results of technological investments and enable farmer to address major challenges together.
Precision agriculture- As governments around the world are tackling the very real threat of climate change, we can see that in 2023 one of the emerging trends in sustainability and efficient utilization of resources. Precision agriculture is an emerging approach to managing agricultural resources by using technology to gather, analyse, and assess data.
It will provide valuable insight to farmers about ways to raise soil quality and increase crop yield. Precision agriculture will use remote sensing technologies, robots, and automation to ensure soil health, and moisture content, and enhance crop health.
IoT- IoT or Internet of Things technologies is an emerging trend in agriculture that aims to revolutionize the way farmers interact with the farm. IoT solutions will include sensors and software that will gather, process, and exchange information over the internet about ways to maximize crop yield, reduce pesticide, water, and fertilizer use, and monitor soil conditions among other growing conditions.
Livestock Farming Technology- In 2023 farmers should be on the lookout for some exciting livestock farming technology that will provide the farmers with data that can help them become more efficient with their operations, take better care of the animals, and increase their overall output.
Innovations in livestock farming technologies have automated the process of milking cows and now sensors installed in them can tell the farmer about the quality of the milk too. It can even remove waste and can give the farmer valuable insights on the best food combination to produce a better quality yield.
Hydroponics- Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture that has become very popular recently. Hydroponics involves growing plants in aqueous solvents by using water-based mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil. Since the grower controls the temperature, nutrient supply, and light in hydroponics, farmers can grow the same plant all year round. Hydroponically grown plants also grow faster, have a high-quality yield, and use less water.
