Transforming Agriculture Practices with 5G Technology

Agriculture is an important pillar of the Indian economy and contributes to about 20% of the GDP alone. Since agriculture directly impacts the common masses of the country, revolutionizing this sector would directly benefit the people. However, the current agricultural system is gradually incorporating technology into its daily operations. There are some shortcomings and challenges in the present system (majorly man-powered sector) that integration of 5G technology is set to effectively tackle in the near future.?

5G technology is becoming increasingly relevant across industries and agriculture is no exception. The application of 5G technology in agriculture is deemed to revolutionize the approach of agriculturalists and aid in making better and more informed decisions in future. This can further result in increased productivity and efficiency in this sector.?

By leveraging a combination of 5G, Edge Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), the world is aiming for smart farming. High-speed connectivity, faster transmission of information and lower latency would make agriculture better and smarter while optimizing the cost and effort involved, and increasing crop yielding altogether.?

Potential benefits of 5G in Agriculture-

Precision agriculture

It is a key strategy for enhancing productivity. With robotics, data analytics, and automated remote sensing, precision agriculture uses disruptive technologies like 5G to increase precision and accuracy at all levels while lowering costs and labor. It will allow farmers to collect real-time data of soil moisture, its temperature and other related factors that will help them to decide when to plant, irrigate or harvest the crops. Along with optimizing the cost and labor involved in the whole process, this will also reduce the amount of water and fertilizers used.???

With 5G integrated IoT devices, regular track of data from different sources can be collected, updated and stored in the cloud. This information can be used for a variety of purposes, including climate monitoring, plant health, pest control, soil conditions, and water supply, to name a few. Since the major challenge in the agriculture sector is related to unpredictable weather and soil conditions, the integration of 5G will reduce crop wastage.??

Livestock Monitoring

Integration of 5G technology will also make livestock monitoring easier and effective. With the use of sensors, real-time data of animal health and productivity can be collected and stored in the cloud. By accessing this info, farmers can better decide when to feed their livestock and be informed about any health problems that may arise in the near future.?

Autonomous Farming Vehicles

With image access and live tracking, it will be possible to monitor the real-time status of the tractors. 5G enabled devices can be fitted in the tractor itself, that would allow the farmers to access and control the speed of the vehicle, calculate soil penetration depth, and placement of seeds. This will also increase flexibility and save in terms of labor involved.??

Drone Monitoring

Unmanned vehicles like drones can be equipped with 5G-powered sensors to monitor the growth and yield of the crops. It can also be utilized to analyze the nutrient status of the crops, detect pests and weeds, spray pesticides in a specified area, and collect information about the field status. Drone experts can access all such necessary information from remote locations and can save time in the process.??

Supply Chain Management

With real time monitoring and management of the data, it will be easier for the farmers to decide? when to sell the crops. This will reduce wastage to a significant extent while also increasing the profitability of the produce. Additionally, this will result in managing the supply-chain more efficiently than ever before.?

Some of the popular Job Roles in 5G powered agriculture are Remote Sensing Engineer, Scientist Precision Genomics, Agronomics, Quality Executive, Satellite Image Processing Engineer, and Agriculture Research Analyst.??

Farmers will be able to access weather-related critical data that may indicate disasters such as floods and droughts if 5G technology is integrated into agriculture. This will let them make an informed decision as to when growing or selling crops would be more suitable. With such easy availability of data and seamless transfer of information, the agriculture sector will be transformed significantly. As the demand is growing year-on-year and IoT is enabling faster and effective availability of food items, integration of 5G technology will improve the profitability and productivity of the sector.?