Automation in agricultural equipment and technology

 Automation in agricultural equipment and technology

The saying that the farmer deserves to be king when the mud is washed away is well-suited to today’s society. Because of the innovations that are being introduced today. So today there are royal farmers. In the past Sri Lanka was known as the ‘oriental granary’. People in the past may not have even thought about automation methods. Really they wondered why they aren’t here today . Agriculture is almost as old as humankind. Together with hunting ,fishing and gathering, agriculture and cultivation have been widely practiced since primordial times.

First of all let’s identified term farm automation. It is called ‘smart farming’, is technology that makes farmers more efficient and automates the livestock production cycle. Agricultural mechanization has involved the partial or full replacement of human energy and animal powered equipment. An increasing number of automate equipment are working on robotic innovation to develop drones, autonomous tractors, robotic harvesters, automatic watering, automatic crop dusting machine and seeding robots . Although these technologies are fairly new . Some major technologies that are most commonly being utilized by the farms. Autonomous tractors can be controlled remotely or pre-programmed. Its reduction farmers pains and labor costs. Automation tractors more accessible for farmers by affordably retrofitting existing tractors with cutting edge drivers less technology and implement control. Robotics developed for seeding and weeding can target specific crop areas. Weeding robotics reduce pesticides usage. But ‘blue river’ technology is increased .Blue river technology is called by spray herbicides to crop. This gives farmers to new way to control and prevent herbicide-resistant weeds. Such modern farming technology is called the Internet Of Things[IOT] and it doesn’t require the presence of a human to control various agriculture processes. Instead sensors, gauges and machines function on their own being linked together via the cellular network ,mobile internet ,Bluetooth and any other wireless connection. Here is an example drone, drone gives whole crop onto farmers fingertips. Drones can be used to monitor conditions remotely and even apply fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. They can quickly and effectively identify problem areas and analysis to help farmers diagnose issues early.

Farm automation technology addresses major issues like a rising global population, farm labor shortages flood conditions, poor vector control and changing consumer preferences. The benefits of automating traditional farming processes are monumental. With automation technology reaches consumers faster, fresher and more sustainably. Further it increases productivity rate.

Therefore reducing cost for consumer Harvest robots take routine tasks. So it reducing labor costs and manpower needed amidst a labor shortage in the agriculture industry. Some automation methods can reduce the amount of pesticides and fertilizer used while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Automation of agriculture increase of food quality, preservation of operator comfort and safety, precision application of agrochemicals, energy conservation and environmental control.

There are challenges of farm automation that must be overcome. There are high costs to adopt robotics technologies, it is a huge barrier to entry for farmers. Technical issues and breakdown of equipment also present high costs to fix for specialized parts. Further insufficient knowledge related to using those things and lack of farmers self satisfaction are common issues. Other than that very bad effect is farmers lose their jobs. Then lack of access to poor farmers is again issue. Withal increase non communicable diseases [Diabetic Mellitus, Cardiovascular disease, Hypertension] amidst farmers. So automated agriculture bear diabetes farmers, anxious farmers and obesity farmers etc. At the same time farm automation practices can make agriculture more profitable, while reducing the ecological footprint of farming. So far completely automatic farms are still a coveted dream but rapid development and sophistication of agricultural machines pave way for the advent of automatic farm as a mainstream trend of the modern economy.