You don’t need to be an agriculture expert to see the writing on the wall. Current farming methods just aren’t working anymore for most farmers of the world.
There are 2 billion smallholder farms managing fewer than five acres (PDF)[1]. They are growing most of the world’s food, but if you have ever visited China, India or any African country, you will have seen the challenges of their reality: yields aren’t what they used to be; climate change, drought and pesticides are getting stronger; and kids are moving to the city. For these farmers, the difference between a good and a bad crop can mean the difference between survival and starvation for them and their families. With even a modest improvement in productivity, lives can be dramatically impacted.
It’s not just farmers themselves who have a stake in improving the system. Improving agricultural practices has also become a key political issue in many countries, such as India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to double the income[2] of its 200 million farmers by 2022. The government of Vietnam has pledged incentives[3] to help the country’s farmers remain competitive while managing the ever-growing challenge of climate change.
Politicians today can make these promises because they know they are on the cusp of a tech revolution. Low-cost sensors coupled with the internet have created an industry called IoT, or the internet of things. It’s where your hardware can go online and interface with the internet. Most people know Alexa as one of the most common home solutions; self-driving cars are soon to be in the same league.
So what about self-driving farms? Ones where hundreds of sensors listen to the plants and automate critical parts of the process, helping farmers avoid a
