Automation in Agricultural Equipment and Technology

 Automation in Agricultural Equipment and Technology

Agriculture is as old as humankind and it is always going parallel with human existence. Agriculture is a field which never loses its value. Even amidst a world crisis like Covid 19, agriculture remained same in its due position without fluctuating, since it is directly associated with life on earth.

Due to the advancement in technology and social values agriculture is undergoing rapid and profound changes. In many industries automation has took place and it gives vast advantages for relevant industries. As same as many industries automation is there in agriculture too.

When someone talks about agriculture, still we imagine a old dark skinned farmer wearing a span cloth with a mammoty on his shoulder. That is what we have seen and what we have learned about agriculture. But that difficult era is coming to an end and we are stepping forward to smart farming. In Sri Lanka we are still at the beginning pace of advance agriculture. Still our rural farming society is following traditional methods for farming due to lack of knowledge and reluctance to move from the tradition.

With the introduction to automation agriculture has become more user friendly & effective. Farmers do not have to spend whole day ploughing around the field. Instead they have to monitor and manage the equipment and technology wisely. So far fully automated farms are not visible but it is evident that the dawn of that era is not so far.

What do you imagine of a fully automated farm? Most probably it is a large scale farm where robots are busy with farming activities while a single human being cannot be seen in the field. Human element in agriculture sector is cut off to a greater extend with the introduction of modern farming tools.

The global population is expected to be 9.7 billion in 2050. In order to fulfil the food requirement agricultural production needs to be increased at least by 70% from current levels. The advanced technology which includes robots, automated farm equipment and drones will help farmers to achieve the required level of production with precise quality.

The primary goal of automation is converting repetitive tasks which are easier but time and labour consuming. Here are some technologies that are commonly used.

Managing a farm is a complex task which contains hundreds of activities which are interconnected such as application of fertilizer, seeds fungicides etc. Monitoring and maintaining adequate environmental factors is also important in farm managing. Internet of things will help automated farms to optimise relevant agricultural processes through software algorithms. In this technology sensors are used to monitor the conditions of the farm frequently. For instance sensors can be used to measure the moisture content of soil. These sensors will immediately react to the inadequate levels of moisture. So farmers can take necessary steps to bring it into the status quo. This technology does not need human technology to control agricultural functions. Instead machines can be directly link through wireless connection. Through internet of things we can achieve greater efficiency, high quality and higher yields. This will reduce labour requirement as well.

Drones can be used to monitor fields. For instance to check weather pest and disease attacks have taken place. Drones can be also used to apply fertilizer and pesticides to large scale farms. Drones are also good at diagnosing issues in the fields. By connecting machines to drones through wireless connection those issues can be addressed without human intervention.

Both weeding and seeding are time and labour consuming activities but are mandatory to carry out in the field. Both time and money can be saved through automation. By using weeding robotics we can reduce pesticide usage by 90%. Blue river technology helps to find out and apply pesticides to relevant areas and relevant amounts only.

Automated tractors will reduce labour cost and increase efficiency of the farming process. Automation of harvesting process is not an easy task, since identifying harvesting indices is not easy and physical damages could happen during harvesting process. Thanking to the brains behind technology harvesting machines have developed for apples and strawberries despite how they are grown.
Automation in agricultural sector has addressed so many issues such as growing population, climate changes and labour shortages.

More than 50% of cost of production is for labour. But considerable amount of farmers are affected from labour shortages. As a result nowadays farmers are moving towards less labour intensive farming practices. The best solution for this problem is automation. There are vast number of advantages.

There is a growing concern among farmers for organic and sustainably produced products. Automation will help to produce high quality products.

The biggest drawback of automation is declining need for human aspect for agricultural sector. More than 60% of world's population depends on agriculture for their survival. If fully automated farms are developed in the future what will happen to the human aspect? Unemployment will be the most flagrant problem in the future. Humans will not be needed for agriculture in the future. Many more social economic problems will arise as a result of unemployment.
In terms of flexibility humans are more flexible than machines. Machines cannot act according to the situation if the predetermined circumstances change. For instance if a new dangerous virus is spread in a livestock farm machines are not clever enough to take necessary actions.

We have to face many challenges when we're shifting from traditional agriculture to automation. We have to overcome those challenges due to its vast number of advantages.