Ag 4.0: Precision agriculture bringing advanced tech to the field

On farms in the future, drones will fly overhead checking soil conditions, sensors will measure plant health and livestock will eat on demand, monitored by equipment that reports on their physical condition. Programmed tractors will sweep up and down rows, dropping seeds, watering and fertilizing with complete precision as farmers monitor it all from their cell phones.

According to Gregory Goins, Ph.D., associate dean for research in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, the future is not so far away.

“This technology reflects the evolution of farming – call it ‘Agriculture 4.0,’ ” he said. “It seems futuristic, but all of these technologies are in practice now and becoming more widely used. They are tremendously important to small-scale farmers because of their ability to save time and money.”

To understand the trend toward tech, Goins said, start with a little history.

At the turn of the 20^th century, farming became mechanized. In the 1940s came the evolution of large-scale farming, the use of fertilizer and pesticides to yield large amounts of disease-free, uniform produce. Now the move is toward digital, or “smart,” agriculture, in which farming can become more precise, customized and ‘real-time’, as well as kinder to the planet, thanks to the use of technology.

Many of these seemingly futuristic technologies are here and are ready for use in improving agriculture’s precision and efficiency, two vital factors for small-scale growers and for younger growers. Those two populations will be key for sustaining farming in the future, Goins said.

“Twenty-first century agriculture has some grand challenges and wicked problems: How do we produce enough food in the face of climate change? How do we feed the population without killing the planet?” he said.

“In this climate, the small-holder farm and regenerative agriculture are being highly valued, because the practices they treasure – cover cropping, soil maintenance, alternative fertilizers, organic practices – are being adopted by the larger growers and brought to larger audiences.”

The two populations will need digital agricultural tools for different reasons, Goins said.

Small-scale farmers, who make much of their income off the farm, need the efficiency and immediacy tech brings to run their farming operation.

“While they’re at their other job, they need to be able to look at their phone and see, ‘My greenhouse is getting a little warm – I’d better make sure the misters are on,’  he said.
“Before, they had to be there in person, but with digital tools, they have the second pair of hands they need to help them with their operation.”

At the same time, “digital agriculture” is drawing younger, environmentally conscious, tech-savvy generations back to the field by allowing them to grow, while still giving them freedom.

“These are the generations that care about where their food comes from and what’s being done to strengthen the local food supply chain, but they also want to go to their kid’s soccer game. Ag tech gives them the freedom to do both,” Goins said. “It fits the lifestyle of the digital age for millennials.”

The College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’ role to conduct the research and product testing to make sure that underserved populations are not left behind in the digital revolution.

“The purpose of our research is to make sure the space is addressed for smallholders, to make it applicable to their enterprise and help them join the digital age. Their return on inputs won’t be immediate, but we can help them translate the costs into benefits,” Goins said.

“We also want to attract younger generations into farming. The average age of the farmer is around 60. This allows us to show those younger generations how they can keep their interest in sustainability and growing, and still have a balanced lifestyle.

“As a college, it allows us to invest in more climate-smart practices, increase youth participation and provide a more cost-saving, less stressful lifestyle for our smallholders,” Goins said. “This grand challenge is our time to flourish.”