Farm work once involved taking a bucket to the barn to milk the cows by hand and plowing the fields with the facilitate of animals. Today, farms around the world are using mapping technology, temperature and humidity sensors, robots, aerial photography, and more in their daily lives.
These technologies have allowed farms to become more profitable, more effective, safer and more environmentally cordial.
Robotic systems are one form of technology that our farmers are using. Crop farmers can combine the exploit of precision farming and robotics to plant, monitor, spray, weed, sort and pack their produce. On livestock farms, robotic systems can be deployed to feed or milk animals, herd them to where they need to go, or immaculate barns. Monitors can also be used on livestock to facilitate track their heat cycles, activity, potential diseases and more.
These systems can facilitate solve labor shortages, where jobs that pay below minimum wage can be automated, helping to keep food costs lower.
Precision farming is another way our farmers are using technology. According to United States Department of Agriculture“Applying the right resources in the right place at the right time can benefit farmers and the environment. This approach, known as precision farming, allows farmers to use cutting-edge tools to obtain specific, detailed information about individual patches of land and even plants in their fields.”
This technology allows farmers to determine exactly what their plants need, thereby reducing run-off and over-fertilization, reducing costs and increasing crop yields.
I rely heavily on GPS technology to assist my trusty vehicle, Tassie, and me as we travel across Wisconsin, but it can do more than just facilitate us get from point A to point B!
Geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) work together to provide detailed analysis of real-world information. GIS stores data about spaces, such as barns, fields, grain bins, or roads, to facilitate map and store information about locations.
The satellites that make up GPS technology can determine a user’s location and overlay it with GIS information. That information can be used to steer a tractor, which the USDA says provides accuracy of about one centimeter in planting, spraying herbicides or spreading fertilizer on fields.
Technology in agriculture is better for business, animals, workers, consumers and the environment. I look forward to learning more about how technology continues to play a larger role in agriculture across the state as I serve as Wisconsin’s 77th Alice in Dairyland!
