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Modern Innovations In The Farming Industry

In modern farming, innovation is more critical than ever. The industry as a whole is confronted with significant challenges, including increasing supply prices, labor shortages, and shifting customer expectations for accountability and sustainability. Agriculture companies are increasingly recognizing the need for solutions to these problems.

The global population is expected to hit nearly 10 billion people by 2050. Furthermore, analysts conclude that farmers would be unable to produce enough food to feed everyone under the existing agricultural system. Experts estimate that global food production will increase by 70% by 2050 to keep up with population growth. Pretty shocking, right?

Fortunately, much can be done to fix these issues before they become a global food crisis. The best bet is to rely on modern innovations. Furthermore, agricultural technology usage in the farming industry has steadily increased globally over the last decade. Here are several examples of modern farming inventions.

Indoor Vertical Farming

The method of processing food on vertically inclined surfaces is referred to as this. Vertical farming grows vegetables and other foods in vertically stacked layers typically built into other structures such as a skyscraper, shipping container, or repurposed warehouse, rather than farming them on a single floor in a field or a greenhouse.

This new concept uses indoor farming techniques and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology. Growing food and medicine indoors is possible thanks to the artificial regulation of temperature, light, humidity, and gases. Vertical farming resembles greenhouses in several respects, where metal reflectors and synthetic lighting supplement natural sunlight. Vertical farming’s main aim is to maximize crop yield in a small area.

Farm Automation

Farm automation technology increases farm productivity by automating the crop or livestock production cycle. As evident at hsautomation.com, there are several companies, dealing with crop and grain processing, that are using harvesting robots, watering robots, and seeding robots. Even though these innovations are still relatively new, a growing number of conventional agriculture companies are incorporating farm automation into their operations.

Data From The Sky- Drones

Farmers may use drones to precisely identify crop biomass, plant height, weed presence, and water saturation on specific field areas. In contrast to satellites, they have more and more reliable data with higher resolution. They provide helpful information much faster than scouts when they are run locally.

Drones are often regarded as unrivaled allies in the fight against insects; the invasion is avoided by spraying insecticide on the dangerous areas with drones, all while reducing the risk of chemical contamination from direct contact.

Plant Genomics

Farmers are putting on white coats instead of overalls as they enter the world of genomics, an area that is fine-tuning the crops they produce. Plant genomics advances aim to increase yields, improve the taste of food, and allow plants to flourish with more nutrients.

The relaxation of state and federal regulations governing cannabis growers has allowed for more innovation as growers create more beneficial and stable marijuana strains. Miniaturization of crops is also possible thanks to genomics, which is critical for increasing yields in small spaces.

Blockchain Technology

While most people are familiar with the blockchain because of its use in cryptocurrency finance, the agricultural world is just getting to know this revolutionary new technology in a different light. Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC), a commodity trader, concluded the first blockchain-powered agricultural exchange in December 2017, selling and delivering 60,000 tons of soybeans to China. With decentralized transactions and self-executing smart contracts, this trade reflects how the blockchain will be used in agriculture early on.

The blockchain may also be used to monitor resources, such as monitoring machinery maintenance records or other sensors and equipment.

Ring Gardens

Food production, wildlife habitat, air quality enhancement, carbon absorption, and other purposes are all served by well-designed fields planted with various crops. In the permaculture community, this is known as “stacking functions.” The solar-powered Ring Garden is one of the most promising applications of this theory.

Though the Ring Garden is still in its early stages of development, its elegant combination of desalinization, solar energy, and food production is worth investigating, particularly for drought-stricken coastal communities. The revolving structure is expected to generate 16 million gallons of clean water per year, 40,000 pounds of soilless crops, and 11,000 pounds of biomass for livestock feed when fully operational.

Modern Greenhouses

Modern greenhouses, which were once only used on a small scale for research and decorative purposes, have quickly grown into large-scale operations that now compete directly with land-based traditional food production. These greenhouses have proven to be successful in enabling farmers to have complete environmental control while reducing the risks of natural factors such as pests and changing weather conditions and operating closer to urban centers to minimize the costs and inconvenience of transporting crops to consumers.

Other facets of the industry have seen the agricultural technology revolution alongside new tractors and precision farming. With the advancement of technology, modern agriculture has become more data-driven and accurate. This modern outlook on farming has broadened market boundaries and provided new insight into all facets of farm machinery.

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