Internet of Things in Farming
Tags: iot
Published: 2022-08-30 14:25:02

GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, have been a modern day solution to solving the hunger crisis, making food bigger, taister, cheaper, and more nutritious; however, this form of engineering can have detrimental consequences on human beings, causing an increased likelihood of developing deadly conditions, such as cancer, as well as having harmful effects on the environment. But despite these downsides, there is no denying that the effects GMOs have had on the agriculture industry are crucial to helping feed the rapidly growing human population. This is why it is essential to find a sustainable replacement to GMOs that can help to grow the agriculture industry's production while avoiding the potentially damaging consequences of genetically changing nature. Using a network of interworking computers communicating with one another to create perfection in completely natural crop cultivation would be the most practical switch from harmful genetic engineering to maintain a clean environment.

IoT, or internet of things, is a relatively new farming method in the agriculture industry that is being overlooked due to its novice and costliness. These are systems of scanners, sensors, and computers working together to collect real time data on the growth of crops and how to optimize the yield of those crops. Using machines to do this rather than farmers would take out the potential for human error and leave a series of perfect calculations on how to care for, harvest and cultivate agriculture to optimize productivity. One example of this is the use of food computers to help find a practical solution to growing plants on extraterrestrial planets. They are currently small plastic boxes surrounded by foil with a series of sensors and coded computers that work together to perfectly replicate the most desirable conditions a specific plant needs to grow. The hope is to eventually be able to implement these computers into space stations to be able to sustain life on other planets; however, this technology is still fairly new and hasn’t reached this level of proficiency. There are also IoT systems being used in agriculture on Earth currently. These aren’t widely popular, however, because they are still new and expensive, deterring them from most farmers. This system of technology works together to monitor not only the crops being grown, but the conditions Earth is producing in that area and the right course of action to take in response to these conditions. They use everything from weather forecasts to current cultivation data to optimize the yield produced in each crop.

These two technologies are currently separate fields of study and experimentation; however, combining them both would balance out the strengths and weaknesses each of the technologies have to create one, much more efficient, system, to perfect crop cultivation. The primary setbacks that food computers face are the adaptation of plants to extraterrestrial environments while, on the other hand, [IoT in agriculture](https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/06/16/five-use-cases-for-iot-and-edge-cloud-technology-in-smart-farming/) struggles with adapting to Earthly conditions. Food computers attempt to handle its unpredictable environment by minimizing the effects it can have on the plants. Using these strategies with IoT could eliminate both systems' biggest flaw: food computers staying on Earth and IoT avoiding changing climates. The adaptation of these two into something like hydroponics could lead to a sustainable solution to feeding densely populated areas. Hydroponics is a gardening style that involves growing plants without the use of soil. It's highly sustainable and produces high quality food at a much faster rate; however it’s mainly operated by humans. Being a very precise method of farming, human error can lead to a lot of crop failure, potentially making it less effective than regular farming. Using the precision of IoT and the controlled environment of food computers would almost completely erase this risk, being potentially the most effective method of natural cultivation.

There are many issues that the agriculture industry faces, but some of the biggest would be sustainability, space, and yield. A mixture of food computers, IoT, and hydroponics would help solve all three of these. One of the biggest shows of the damaging consequences poor farming can have were the dust bowls in midwestern America in the 30’s. The ignorance of farmers on the effects they have on the planet, lead to a series of disastrous dust storms that eventually lead to the downfall of the economy. And while these problems were eventually solved, the agriculture industry still uses highly damaging methods of farming that, if left unadapted, could lead to unforeseeable consequences in the future. Switching to an almost entirely hydroponic based farming style, it would not only minimize the damage caused by farmers on the soil, but it would also lead to better conservation of water. Hydroponics minimizes the water usage of plants by letting them drink only what they need while avoiding the excess seeping into the earth. This would ultimately lead to less water being taken and used for farming, and leave more water in nature, helping to prevent man-made drought. Excluding soil from crop production would also help reduce the space used in farming. The structure of food computers, being a square, makes them easily stackable and adjustable, leading expansion up rather than out, or rather down. Agriculture, using food computers, could lead to the expansion of the agriculture industry underground, using a three dimensional volume to “stack” farms, rather than the currently used two dimensional surface seen in surface farming. This would leave more land available for everything from human development to conservation. Lastly, is the issue agriculture has with yield, and while this is technically a solved issue with the introduction of GMOs, this solution is potentially harmful to both humans and nature. Genetic modification is producing more food for a growing human population, but it is not a solution for the future. Using the precision brought by adding technological intelligence into farming would help to naturally maximize crop yields, without potentially harmful consequences. In addition to this, the increased space and sustainability would lead to being able to overall produce more, rather than relying on trying to maximize what can be produced in a limited space.

None of these methods of farming are perfect and all come with their own set of flaws that could create potentially more issues in the future; however, the current standards used for farming cannot be allowed to continue to ruin the agriculture industry. IoT development would help to reduce these potential issues and the consequences they could have. The future of the farming industry is technological: using it to perfect the cultivation of crops to maximize the yield. Implementing highly sustainable methods of farming is critical to the future of the planet, as well as ensuring that there are resources needed to feed a rapidly growing population. A new, innovative blend of these three systems would lead to a more productive, sustainable, and healthy future for the farming industry.