Digital Agriculture: 7 Cutting-Edge Agricultural Trends

Challenges related to climate change, population growth, and increased demand have led to the need for new measures, and one response to this is digital agriculture.

Would you like to learn about what it is, its benefits, and the 7 cutting-edge trends in digital agriculture? Here we explain in detail so that, if you haven't already, you can make the definitive leap in your business or agribusiness.

What is Digital Agriculture?

Digital agriculture is based on the use of technology to achieve greater efficiency in agricultural processes. Increasingly advanced digital tools are employed to analyze all the processes involved in this business sector.

This allows for resource optimization, reduced environmental impact, production measurement, and greater productivity and efficiency at each stage of agricultural activity.

How Agriculture Has Evolved Towards Digitalization

The revolution that digital agriculture has undergone has had a significant impact as it has increased efficiency, profitability to very high levels, and excellent performance.

Contrary to what might be thought, farmers are not moving at a different pace regarding digital environments. The agribusiness sector is at the forefront and is increasingly investing in and embracing digital tools.

Digitalization has allowed companies to optimize the resources used in cultivation, improve production procedures, and enhance performance to make everything more sustainable.

Artificial intelligence and agriculture are practically inseparable nowadays, as all the information provided by new technology is essential for efficient, controlled, and straightforward processes.

Digitalization has come to change all parts and processes within the agri-food chain, as well as resource management and optimization, providing greater security, profitability, and sustainability.

Economically speaking, digitalization in agriculture enhances the potential to generate greater benefits through increased productivity, cost efficiency, and market opportunities.

The reality is that digital technology is transforming our lives, and agriculture is not exempt from this trend; in fact, it can benefit from it.

For this to happen, it only requires a process of adaptability and implementation through technology and agriculture experts, who must guide companies into the digital era to make the most of the resources currently available.

Benefits of Digital Agriculture

The positive aspect of digital agriculture is that it is useful regardless of the size of the crops or lands.

The benefits can be observed both at the level of small crops and in leading agricultural companies. Here are some of the most relevant ones.

1. Process Automation

Digital agriculture helps improve management processes and automate a large number of tasks where human supervision is no longer essential, and in fact, they can often be better performed without it, thanks to the precision of machines and technologies.

Furthermore, these automated processes lead to improved decision-making, making everything faster and much more effective.

In this regard, digitalization helps, for example, through robots with various capabilities such as:

• Detecting anomalies in the field and preparing it for planting and harvesting.
• Harvesting small fruits and transporting them to a specific area.
• Collecting and extracting fruits from trees based on their ripeness.
• Automatically carrying out spraying.
• Monitoring and maintaining plants and crops.

2. Production Improvement

Digitalization of agriculture enables companies to better evaluate processes and analyze each action that needs to be taken, accurately identifying errors and challenges that arise.

Technology allows for reducing travel and time, which helps focus attention on processes that require human intervention, ensuring that everything goes as expected or planned.

There are even mobile applications that allow you to measure crop quality in real time to take immediate actions.

This way, the focus is on what truly matters, and actions can be streamlined to improve production levels without compromising quality.

3. Enhanced Production Monitoring

Until a few years ago, farmers had limitations regarding weather data, crop conditions, and other information that could assist in decision-making.

Those days are gone, as digital agriculture provides access to satellite images of plots, revealing the conditions of each one: humidity, temperature, health, etc., in order to make better decisions to enhance performance.

4. More Data in Less Time

Without the assistance of technology, all the data received from various sources would have to be manually studied, taking weeks or even months, rendering it irrelevant by the time the analysis is complete.

Digital agriculture allows for the easy and automated interpretation of all parameters obtained.

It's only necessary to have control over the data and schedule checks and monitoring at certain intervals. This way, everything will remain under control, and optimal action can be taken to prevent major issues.

5. Reduced Risks

All the technologies available for capturing digital data, such as those collected by drones and satellites, can alert agriculture experts to problems that sometimes go unnoticed by the human eye.

Drones equipped with thermal cameras can locate and identify areas with low humidity, prompting appropriate irrigation to ensure they receive what they need for quality products.

This makes it possible to make real-time decisions and optimize all agriculture processes.

Digital Agriculture Trends

With the benefits of digital agriculture in mind, it's equally important to be aware of the most important trends in this sector. This will help you choose the right path based on your objectives.

Let's discuss some of the most significant trends.

1. Biotechnology and Agricultural Bioinputs

Biotechnology and agricultural bioinputs represent a very important trend as they lead the transition toward sustainable agriculture that cares for the environment.

The development and application of natural products allow for nurturing the soil as a living organism while achieving good results in agricultural production, leaving behind harmful agrochemicals.

Crops where biotechnology is applied have several advantages, such as:

• Enhanced crop defense against pathogens
• Improved plant growth process
• Higher productivity and yield
• Better soil quality

2. Big Data

Big Data, which refers to the analysis of a large amount of data, is crucial in digital agriculture, as only through this process can farmers manage and understand the information obtained from drones, satellites, sensors, and more.

Imagine wanting to test various seed varieties across 400 hectares, changing soil type, seed type, and planting rates. How long would that take you? Many years! This is significantly reduced with the handling of data obtained through technological tools.

The more data you have and analyze automatically, the fewer errors are made, and this is what digital agriculture aims for. In the United States, for example, the FBN program allows thousands of farmers to share references to obtain reliable data and understand what works best and what doesn't in different scenarios.

3. Field Management Software (Sensors/IoT)

These are systems designed to capture and process various types of data obtained from sensors and other devices. They are used to streamline the decision-making process.

This type of software results from the combination of agronomy and cybernetics. Its main purpose is to simplify tasks for farmers and also to make agribusinesses more profitable.

There are many software solutions available, such as FarmLogs, Farmers Edge, Agrian, and FarmShots, and more are being developed to respond to changing needs. 

4. Intelligent and Sustainable Machines

One of the most interesting trends in digital agriculture is the creation and use of intelligent and sustainable machines. These are autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles that offer greater precision through sensors, machine learning, and field maps.

The goal is to automate repetitive tasks and achieve greater resource efficiency, which is beneficial for the Earth as it reduces the exploitation of natural resources.

The journey towards sustainability is just beginning, but the goal for the future is to reduce the use of chemicals and utilize water and machines more efficiently.

5. Automation of Irrigation and Harvesting Processes

Water is the most valuable resource globally and one of the most wasted in agriculture. Therefore, there's a push to design autonomous irrigation systems to optimize water usage.

Through this trend of digital agriculture, the aim is to address the complex issue posed by irrigation and harvesting processes, using systems and sensors that measure temperature and humidity to determine when and where water should be distributed.

Furthermore, the automation of these processes also helps determine the duration of each irrigation and the quantity required to avoid wastage, even at a minimal level, of resources.

6. New Cultivation Systems

In this regard, what stands out the most is the level of connectivity being achieved in relation to the field.

There are increasingly more applications that allow control over all the elements involved in the cultivation process at different stages of growth, as well as advanced software to manage the production process and GPS-guided machinery, which can be managed through a smartphone and more.

7. E-commerce of Food

Also known as e-grocery, e-commerce of food has emerged as a strong trend in digital agriculture, especially since it is an essential sector that need not worry about demand, but rather about distribution.

New demands are arising, and the concept of "from farm to table" has gained significant ground, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are still many challenges to overcome.

Conclusions

The digitalization of agriculture has allowed experts in this field to monitor production processes much more efficiently and effectively. This has helped respond to the increasingly high demands of consumers, as their numbers continue to grow.

All of these trends and applications generate significant benefits not only for agricultural producers but also for consumers and for enhancing the food supply chain.

However, for a successful digital transformation, it's crucial to follow a plan and strategy, which should be developed by experts. In this regard, the best approach is to work with experts through business consulting.

This way, you ensure that the transition is carried out correctly and that, in the short and long term, you reap the benefits that come with digital agriculture, making it a true investment rather than an expense.

At London Consulting Group, our goal is to assist other companies in this process to enhance their outcomes and support them before, during, and after, ensuring that the transition is successfully completed.

Do you need professional assistance to take the definitive step and make the most of technology and the digital era in the agricultural sector? Get in touch with us