Precision Agriculture: Why You Should Care

Precision Agriculture: Why You Should Care

We have talked about precision agriculture in a previous blog post but we still have so much more to say. It is such an important part of the agricultural sector that we believe that our readers deserve a deep and thorough understanding of what it is. The focus of this blog post is to detail the reasons why we believe that precision agriculture is so incredibly important.

As a quick review, precision agriculture helps farmers optimize productivity and increase yields with the help of new modern technologies. This gives farmers more information about their crops than they’ve ever had before and enables them to make smart and informed decisions.?

How are these new technologies paving the way for the future of agriculture you may be wondering??

Well, for one, precision agriculture helps farmers be more sustainable. As the world population continues to grow, an increased demand for food is inevitable. In order to produce enough food to feed all of these people, farmers need to change the ways that they go about producing their crops so that their practices become more sustainable. What is really concerning is that if changes are not made to the agricultural sector as it stands right now people will starve. The goal of sustainable agriculture is to support society's current requirements without putting excess strain on the environment. Precision agriculture helps farmers conserve resources by enabling them to manage their crops and soil more efficiently. Additionally, the proper and more limited use of pesticide applications will help keep both soil and crops healthy, which avoids placing undue stress on the environment, and preserves biodiversity.???

Another great thing about precision agriculture is that it helps make the day-to-day lives of farmers easier. I think everyone can agree that the rise of technology has resulted in an influx of easily accessible information, and farmers are no exception. What’s incredible about modern technology is that it allows for all of the data that exists within a farmer’s field to always be within reach. This is a huge advantage for farmers and makes it easy for them to keep track of even the smallest details. As you’ve probably heard many times before, technology enhances productivity and streamlines processes that can otherwise be time-consuming, such as manually checking for pests and diseases. The most basic goal of precision agriculture is to provide farmers with better results with the most minimal amount of effort possible. With all that being said there are still challenges that arise when implementing new technology that cannot be ignored. The financial burden that these technologies can inflict on farmers as well as the confusion and discomfort from using new technology might lead to low adoption rates. (The challenges with precision agriculture and how Agrint overcomes those challenges will be covered in greater detail in an upcoming blog post.)

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Lastly, precision agriculture saves farmers money by reducing costs and maximizing their profit. I think we can all agree that reducing business expenses is always a good thing. Precision agriculture can make that happen for farmers. According to the USDA farmers who’ve used precision agriculture in their farming practices have seen higher profits than farmers who did not. This increase in profits is made possible by a decrease in production time, an increase in field operation frequency, and better accuracy which can all be attributed to precision agriculture. What’s great about having more optimized growing procedures is that this leads to greater yields, the loss of less goods, and allows farmers to be better informed for future seasons.?Better yet, with the help of precision agriculture, farmers can make better decisions on when and where to apply pesticides. Farmers save money by cutting back on their use of pesticides and the costs associated with applying it. The reduction of costs allows for funds to be allocated to other operations.?

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Have we convinced you yet about the incredible benefits that precision agriculture provides for farmers? We hope so. The use of emerging technologies in agricultural practices will allow for more profitability, efficiency, and sustainability in farming. This is why we believe that precision agriculture is the future of farming.?

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Now that you’ve learned about all of the incredible benefits of precision agriculture it’s time that we mention the challenges as well.?

In our next blog post we explore the challenges that arise when implementing precision agriculture and why it isn’t mainstream yet, so make sure you keep an eye out for that.