Smart Farming

What Is Smart Farming?

Smart farming refers to the deployment of modern technologies, such as Edge AI, IoT, robots, on the farm. The goal of smart farming is to increase the quantity and quality of crop yields without needing more human labor.

Why Smart Farming Is the Future?

Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision; compiled by Aetina Corporation

The United Nation estimates that the global population will reach 9.8 billion by 2050, driving up food demand and stressing the need for more farm labor. However, overcoming the long-standing challenge of farm labor shortages is proving difficult. Smart farming, powered by Edge AI, offers a sustainable solution.

With Edge AI, farmers can remotely monitor their entire farms, optimizing the use of resources like seeds, water, and pesticides. Farmers can make data-driven decisions taking the guesswork out of the equation. Smart farming turns the unpredictability of nature into a controllable variable, minimizing damage and maximizing productivity.

Scenario

Edge AI Applications in Smart Farming

Edge AI plays a crucial role in smart farming, bringing intelligence and automation to agricultural operations. Here are some of the scenarios where Edge AI is transforming farming:

• Harvesting Robots (Intelligent Robot Assistant for Harvesting)

  Edge AI-powered robots can autonomously harvest crops, such as fruits and vegetables. They detect the ripeness of the crops through Edge AI inference, sensors, and cameras. Then they pick the ripe crops gently with their robotic arms, so that the crops are not damaged. The robots can also sort the crops based on size and quality, reducing labor costs and increasing efficiency.

• Autonomous Tractor

  Using satellite data or aerial images, sensors, cameras, farmers can establish the tractor's path coordinates and utilize onboard GPS to create geofences for the tractors. As a result, the autonomous tractors can collect and process data, enabling real-time path planning and independent fieldwork. This flexibility allows farmers to optimize operations, despite farm labor shortages and tight weather windows.

• Selective Spraying System

  Smart farming technology, equipped with selective spraying systems and AI-driven cameras, can locate and quantify pests in milliseconds for faster treatment, which is far more efficient than regular human inspections. Additionally, smart farming can assist with seeding equipment with enhanced speed and efficiency, helping to compensate for labor shortages in these areas.

• Smart Farm Machines

  Smart farm machines are automated agricultural equipment enhanced with sensors, cameras, and GPS. They can perform tasks like planting, harvesting, and irrigation with precision, reducing the need for human intervention while increasing crop yields.

• Beehome with Robots and AI

  Bees are vital to the ecosystem, yet 40% of them die annually due to disease, pests, and climate change. Managing commercial beehives is labor-intensive work. Beekeepers, equipped with Beehome, a bee hive powered by AI, computer vision, and robotics, can monitor the health of a bee colony with higher frequency and precision. When computer vision detects a pest infestation in a beehive frame, AI decides whether to spray pesticides using robots or quarantine the said frame from the colony.

• Livestock Health Management

  Edge AI transforms livestock health management by allowing farmers to monitor their animals' health and behavior in real-time. By analyzing data collected from various sensors, trackers and cameras attached to the animals and installed on the farm, Edge AI can detect subtle changes that may indicate illness or distress. Therefore, farmers can take swift actions to address the issues, increase animal welfare and the quality of livestock production.