In the first agricultural revolution around 10,000 BCE, humans stopped roaming and started farming. In the second agricultural revolution four hundred years ago, major changes in farming methods and technology dramatically raised yields and supported population growth and industrialization. A third revolution mid-last century was driven by science-based agriculture and boosted yields further. The fourth agricultural revolution is happening right now.
This latest revolution has introduced wirelessly-connected and -guided machinery, drones, sensors, AI and machine learning (ML), robotics, biotechnology and IoT-connected farms. It has made farming more precise, efficient and sustainable than ever before, and is arguably the most significant revolution because it transforms every layer of agriculture simultaneously—biology, machinery, data, labor, and sustainability—and does so at a speed and scale unmatched in human history.
This is fundamentally significant because according to the UN while more than 670 million people are already going hungry today, food production will need to increase by sixty percent if we are to feed the world’s population as it nears 10 billion in 2050.
Smart agriculture involves the use of connected devices, combined with technologies like AI, to optimize farming operations and increase productivity and sustainability. By attaching sensors to various aspects of their operations—machinery, crops, in the soil and even on livestock—farm operators gain a level of visibility and control previously unattainable. This means they can make smarter decisions, resulting in a more precise and impactful form of farming.
As a result, smart farms tend to have higher yields and use less resources. Smart farming also gives farm operators rich data and insights into their operations, which helps them anticipate and stay ahead of emerging challenges.
While short range connectivity technologies also have their place in farming operations, the backbone of smart agriculture is cellular IoT, often because of the sprawling nature of modern farms that can range over thousands of square kilometers.
Nordic has been deploying its cellular IoT technologies into a range of smart farming use cases for several years now, including its next generation nRF9151 SiP module. The nRF9151 enables devices to communicate efficiently on a very tight energy budget, which is critically important for farming applications where regularly replacing or recharging batteries is difficult and costly.
Examples of Nordic cellular IoT devices in agriculture include the placement of moisture or humidity sensors in soil and among crops which can trigger irrigation systems to deliver water when plants need it, and the deployment of sensors to track sprinkler carts and detect when they have sprung leaks or overturned. In the area of livestock, a collar developed for cattle using Nordic’s cellular IoT technology is enabling farmers to monitor the location and wellbeing of cattle in real time. The collar also allows farmers to establish virtual boundaries – by emitting sounds and producing gentle electrical pulses – eliminating the need for farmers to erect traditional farm fencing.
The same cellular IoT technologies are also optimizing the use and maintenance of critical farm machinery. Using connected sensors that monitor levels of vibration, water pressure or temperature, farm operators can proactively track the health of equipment like pumps, tanks and gates and intervene to prevent unexpected failures and downtime.
Farmers are also using connected sensors to find ways to produce yields from compact spaces, rather than relying solely on massive tracts of land. Vertical farming is one example, and involves plants being stacked on shelves in controlled environments under LED lights, eliminating the need for pesticides. These installations use connected sensors to monitor and adjust levels of humidity, fertilization, temperature and lighting for optimal growth.
While vertical farming is helping farmers go up, other advances in connectivity are pushing smart farming further outward. Not all farms are within reach of the cellular coverage that enables most smart agriculture solutions. But now, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) can help farm operators reach the once unreachable. NTNs leverage satellites, in combination with terrestrial-based cellular infrastructure, to extend network coverage to these rural and remote areas where cell tower coverage may be patchy or non-existent. This could be a game-changer for agriculture.
Nordic’s nRF9151 cellular IoT SiP module supports both terrestrial and non-terrestrial connectivity in the form of NB-IoT, LTE-M, DECT NR+, and now NTN. The company has also been actively partnering with multiple NTN providers including Iridium Communications, Skylo, Myriota, Omnispace, Sateliot and Gatehouse Satcom to offer its customers commercial options for their NTN deployments based on the nRF9151.
While improved farming yields tend to grab the headlines, the promise of greater resilience could be the biggest upside from this wave of smarter, data-driven farming. With climate change continuing to intensify, farming conditions are becoming both more severe and more unpredictable. Anything that helps farm operators get better at anticipating and responding to changing circumstances, is a win.
Not surprisingly, the AI boom currently re-shaping entire economies is playing a key role. Solutions like Nordic’s nRF9151 SiP module that draw on sensor data about soil and crops can also send it to cloud-based AI platforms for analysis. This delivers farmers with powerful insights into soil health, weather patterns, yield predictions and disease prevalence – enabling them to foresee and navigate potentially turbulent times ahead. AI can also support interventions to improve and refine farm operations, for instance by recommending optimized irrigation or fertilization schedules.
Together these technologies are transforming farming from a grueling and labor-intensive pursuit to a technologically oriented and data-centric profession. This will hopefully lure a new generation of workers into a sector that, thanks to technology, has a brighter and more sustainable future.