Connecting Small Farmers to Big Data

From crop rotation and machinery to chemistry and genetic modification, farmers have relied on technology to improve their harvests.

The latest advance is data-driven agriculture. By collecting and analyzing more information about plants than ever before, N.C. A&T State University faculty member Harmandeep Sharma, Ph.D., is helping small farmers make smarter data-driven decisions.

“Farming is moving very quickly toward data-driven digital agriculture. It gives us the capacity to use multiple sensors to collect a massive amount of data and then use those data sets to plan how we’re going to grow crops sustainability and efficiently and anticipate possible yields,” said Sharma, a research assistant professor in crop science.

“Big commercial farmers are already using sensors, drones and digital technologies to improve their output,” Sharma added. “Some of this technology is actually very affordable, and the challenge now is to make sure that small, limited-resource and minority farmers have access to it. Through my work and the work of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, we want to show that even small-scale farmers can benefit from these latest technologies.”

Sharma joined the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Design in 2019 after earning her doctorate in biology from Idaho State University. In 2022, she established a digital agriculture research lab now known as the SENSE (Sensors for Sustainable and Efficient Plant Production) Lab. With support from a research associate and graduate and undergraduate students, Sharma deploys ground and aerial sensors — drones equipped with thermal and multispectral imaging cameras — to gather more precise real-time information about plant health, soil fertility and water usage and point out crop distress before farmers can see it.

Data collection is only the first step in digital agriculture. Sharma uses the high-performance SAS Viya data and artificial intelligence platform to store and analyze enormous data sets and produce predictive models more quickly than ever. SAS, the software company based in Cary, made this cloud-based platform available in 2024 to researchers at N.C. A&T and N.C. State through a $1 million allocation from the N.C. General Assembly.

Sharma said this data allows farmers to practice site-specific management using variable-rate technology. Rather than cover an entire field with uniform amounts of water and fertilizer, in other words, farmers can deliver these inputs exactly when and where they’re needed based on the spatial variability throughout the farm.

“SAS Viya is a great tool,” Sharma said. “I’m collecting so much data, and I’m able to analyze those data sets to translate into actionable information I can share with farmers.”

Sharma is deploying ground sensors in her own research to improve yields of different cultivars of hot peppers and industrial hemp — two high-value specialty crops that can generate strong profits for small farmers. Soil sensors continuously monitor the amount of moisture in the soil. Plant sensors track the amount of sap flowing through the stems and the photosynthesis rate in the leaves. Weather stations collect data on air temperature, relative humidity, soil irradiation and other conditions. These sensors are connected to an irrigation system so plants get the exact amount of water they need at the proper time. The data collected by these sensors ultimately will be used to build algorithms to predict the precise demand for irrigation.

Her sensor project is supported by a $767,401 Evans-Allen program grant over three years from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“We are tracking every drop of water — from how it’s moving from the soil through the plant to the leaves,” Sharma said. “It’s important not to add extra water that’s not utilized by the plants because it will evaporate or it will lead to soil leaching that contributes to pollution. By using precision irrigation, we’re able to apply the right amount of water at the right time. That will help improve environmental sustainability and hold down costs for farmers.”

Sharma is bringing data analytical skills using artificial intelligence to students in her graduate-level courses, Experimental Methods in Research and Crop Ecology. As an SAS+ HBCU Fellow — she was one of four educators nationally at historically Black colleges and universities to receive this honor in 2024 — Sharma receives assistance from SAS team members on integrating the SAS Viya platform into her curriculum.

“Being able to work with data is a critical skill set that my students need to develop because it will help them when they go into the job market,” Sharma said. “It’s also important to train the next generation of scientists to conduct data-driven experiments in their labs and then share that information with farmers. Agriculture is changing rapidly, and small-scale farmers need to be able to use this data to help them make a profit and grow their crops efficiently and sustainably.”