Farming has been around as long as man, and it’s seen a lot of changes. Farmers are always working to improve yield and efficiency. Make sure your tech-savvy students know how the information industry can benefit agriculture.
Lance Donny of the company OnFarm says the newest stage of farming “involves exploiting data from many sources — sensors on farm equipment and plants, satellite images and weather tracking. In the near future, the use of water and fertilizer will be measured and monitored in detail, sometimes on a plant-by-plant basis.”
Journalist Nathanael Johnson: “So far, better information has given farmers better yields, because that’s the main thing they are measuring. But with cheap sensors, better information could allow farmers to use water and fertilizers more efficiently. That means higher profits and less waste — less erosion, less fertilizer in the lakes and rivers, less water use. Cheap sensors could help farmers build up their soil and open a treasure trove of data on carbon fluxes — allowing us to better understand which practices sequester greenhouse gases in the ground and which release them into the air.”
Engineering and technology applications go hand-in-hand with farming. Help your students see the fertile fields of agriculture technology!
