Emerging Technology

Innovation is more critical than ever before in modern agriculture. Farmers are facing new challenges, and solutions are rapidly developing. On this page, you’ll find information on the latest farming technology available, including intelligent spraying systems, the use of drones, sensor-based irrigation, mobile apps, and much more.

New Farming Technology Trends

In the last ten years, agriculture technology has seen massive growth in investment. Technology innovations have diversified into areas such as automation and robotics, indoor vertical farming, modern greenhouse practices, blockchain, and precision agriculture.

Drone technology, also referred to as small, unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), is increasingly used on farms. Keep in mind that if you intend to use one as part of your commercial operation, you will need a Remote Pilot Certificate.

Cell-culture based food products are set to bring about substantial changes to meat processing and the livestock production agriculture sector. The challenge of providing food for an increasing population and interest in more plant-based food options has accelerated cellular agriculture.

Another improvement area tackles traditional air blast sprayers’ problems – the significant chemical losses due to the indiscriminate nature of how liquids are applied. Farmers can overcome this issue with the use of computer vision and real-time spatial analysis technologies.

Renewable energy is an area of interest for modern agricultural technology developments. Biogas is a renewable form of natural gas produced from biomass waste or other materials. It is an excellent way to extract energy, works well on farms, and is implemented in more operations.

Livestock Farming Technology

Agricultural technology in the field of livestock production is advancing rapidly. There are numerous modern methods of farming to support livestock producers.

Technology helps improve reproductive performance, reduce labor, and reduce the cost of production. For example, several companies are now marketing activity monitoring systems. The monitoring of cows at calving time has been taken to a new level thanks to technology. Precision feeding technology is currently in use to help improve dairy farm feed management.

Evaluating individual female cows’ body condition score has long been a chore for cowherd farmers, albeit an essential one. Technology is now available, which can make the process simpler. It comes in the form of an app for your smartphone, called the NUBeef-BCS app.

Precision Agriculture, Greenhouse, and Orchard Technology

Precision agriculture is the management of spatial and temporal variability of fields using information computer technology. Data is collected from various sources, including drones and handheld NDVI sensors, stored and then analyzed. Geostatistical methods and decision support systems are helping farmers manage their operations.

Farm automation helps make farms more efficient and automates the crop production cycle. It has proved to be very useful for orchard management, as fruit production has traditionally been very labor-intensive. Orchard precision sensor technology trials are currently underway with crop imaging, sensors for counting insects, spray applications, and weather modeling. Mechanical harvest aids offer the potential for more efficient harvesting and increased consistency in fruit handling.

Irrigation is critical for successful crop production, but it can be challenging to manage. Sensor-based irrigation such as drip irrigation systems has been successful, but there are also challenges. Monitoring soil moisture is fundamental for precision irrigation.

Mobile Apps for Farmers

There are many strategies for managing farms of all sizes. Thanks to technology, these strategies can now be implemented through different types of agricultural software, video cameras, smartphone gadgets, and apps.

Here’s a list of some of the apps you can use to improve your agricultural production.

• Crop Cents Mobile App: Calculates actual costs to produce home-raised feeds for crop, dairy, and beef producers.
• DairyCents Pro Mobile App: Calculates your income over feed cost and tracks other feed management metrics
• Heat Safety Tool: Calculates the heat index for your work area and displays the risk level for outdoor workers.
• Dairy Herd Metrics: Assesses heifer availability and needs for a dairy operation
• Drinking Water App: Helps you evaluate drinking water from wells, springs, and cisterns.
• Scouting Apps: Use them to help identify pests, select crop protection products, or view pesticide labels.
• Spraying Apps: Take the guesswork out of spraying calibration, nozzle selection, tank mixing, and product selection.