The Future of the Agriculture Industry and How Drone Technology Can Support It
The world’s population continues to grow. As such, there is an increase in demand for food. Those involved in the agriculture industry are looking for more efficient ways to produce the maximum yield. Additionally, the values of society are continually changing. Consumers are demanding to know where their food came from. The reasons vary from safety concerns to the quality of the product. The world is also moving toward a globalized economy. These three factors impact the need for innovation in the agriculture sector. I will discuss how some future trends in the industry which are a response to these market changes compared to a technology that is also new in the last ten years, drone imagery.
One concept that is becoming increasingly important in the agricultural industry is traceability. The demand for a traceable product is in response to the consumer becoming more health and safety-conscious. Quality and safety are essential to many people. We often hear about crops being affected by bacteria. Being able to pinpoint the location the product originated helps to persuade consumers that the industry has control of the crisis. The agricultural sector is becoming less fragmenting every day due to globalization. However, right now, it is still largely fragmented, and organizations and individuals within the supply chain have to answer to their customers. Knowing where a product originated can be challenging when growers, processors, distributors, and retails are all separate operations.
Processes are essential in maintaining a traceable supply chain. Technology has allowed for the ease of being able to trace products along the supply chain. Not all producers have caught up to this trend, but one day we might be able to scan a QR code and trace the chain our food followed from farm to end-user.
Drone imagery businesses can take advantage of this trend. Since damage from bacteria or pests is one of the top reasons for the desire to trace food sources, drone operators can contribute to the future of agriculture. Detecting when and where an infestation or infection has occurred can drastically reduce the possibility of unsafe food moving along the food chain.
Large fields can now be monitored through satellite imagery. As the agricultural industry becomes more vertically integrated, farms are more extensive than they used to be. Satellites can cover large areas in a short time. However, the frequency of the scans is not as often as would be required to decide to treat the crops. The resolution is not as good as in a ground scan. In addition to those obstacles, cloud cover can prevent a satellite from gaining imagery at all. The future of satellite imagery in agriculture uses nano-satellites that visit a particular coordinate with increased frequency. This technology exists now but not frequently used.
When asked what technology will be the best source of crop imagery in the future, industry experts say the answer could be “all of the above” (Hest, 2014). This statement makes the point that there is still a place for ground drone survey businesses. Farmers still require flexibility and frequency that satellite imagery cannot provide at this point.
There is much research into the use of microbes in the soil of crops. Usually, microbes and bacteria are bad for the growth of the plant. However, Using microbes to release nitrogen in the ground causes healthier plants to grow faster. This is just one example. Advances in DNA sequencing and machine learning have helped the process of analyzing microbes and identifying those that are best suited to target key crop stressors. For example, specific beneficial microbes can allow a cotton plant to withstand drought conditions. Test from all around the world and the DNA sequence is turned into 1s and 0s so the machine learning can take over the analysis (Hammerich, 2018). Microbes can be manipulated in an infinite amount of ways to benefit the crop.
Drone imagery businesses can support this technology. It will be essential to continue to monitor the crop to confirm that the microbe is performing its intended function.
The agricultural industry will continue to respond to consumer demands and the desire for more profitable operations. Society will benefit from the innovations made as a result. Ground-based unmanned aerial systems (UAS) will have a place to support these new technologies. It will be necessary for the operators of such systems to sell the value of working together in a relationship that will help the other technology in a way that makes each more valuable.
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Hest, D, (2014), Satellite Imagery Boom for Farming, https://www.farmprogress.com/precision-farming/satellite-imagery-boom-farming, Retrieved on 2/15/2020
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Opara, L., Traceability in Agriculture and Food Chain Supply: A Review of Basic Concepts, Technological Implications, and Future Prospects, (2012), Food, Agriculture, and Environment, Volume 1, WFL Publisher, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Traceability-in-agriculture-and-food-supply-chain%3A-Opara/4f632b6ec4bd1ebdc53a0fcf295b1cd3800ed11e, Retrieved on 2/9/2020
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