What are the advantages and challenges of new technologies in agriculture?
Agriculture must become increasingly efficient, both from an economic and environmental point of view, increasing its sustainability. In other words, it must produce more while spending less and better. And this essentially concerns production factors such as water, energy, fertilisers and plant protection products. You must spend as much as the plant needs and at the right time.
What are new technologies in agriculture?
When we talk about new technologies in agriculture, in most cases we're talking about a decision-making support system made up of:
- Electronic sensors, which objectively measure and record parameters such as air temperature and soil moisture.
- Decision support models, which use the parameters measured by the sensors to create risk indices, population estimates or predictions of future values.
- In some cases, automatic actuators can also be connected which carry out an action depending on the result of the models, such as opening a ventilation window in a greenhouse or increasing the flow rate of a sprayer.
How can electronic sensors help control pests and diseases?
These sensors are used both in outdoor crops (orchards or vineyards), where air temperature and rainfall values are collected, and in greenhouses, where radiation and air humidity are measured. Another case is the measurement of soil humidity and temperature as a way of optimising irrigation, both in terms of allocation and timing.
Recently, these sensors have been used to measure pest populations, turning traditional sex and food traps into smart traps with cameras and remote connection. Plants themselves are increasingly being measured using sensors (e.g. branch or fruit growth) so that they can be monitored remotely and in real time.
Today, technicians and farmers also have remote measurement mechanisms at their disposal, based on drones or satellites. These technologies allow them to have an overview of the cultivated field (soil moisture, vigour and the nutritional and water status of the plants).
What kind of forecasting models are used in agriculture?
Pest and disease forecasting models are very effective when we want to make more precise use of plant protection products (PPPs).
For example, flight curve prediction models, obtained from air temperature, tell us what state (number of insects) the population is in. This information can help us know which the best insecticide is to use at different stages of the pest's cycle.
The disease risk index, usually predicted from air temperature, humidity, and rainfall, can be essential.
What are the advantages of automating agriculture?
- It makes it possible to act more quickly on problems
Many of the results obtained from models make it possible to make technical decisions more quickly, to ensure better application of production factors. But there is also the aim that this action can be automated. For a long time, these automatic processes were associated with greenhouse crops and irrigation systems, acting according to variations in environmental variables. - It considers the variability of the cropBut nowadays it's impossible to approach this subject without talking about precision agriculture.
This started out as a technology that allows fertilisers to be applied to the soil in a variable quantity depending on the type of crop, soil fertility or the previous year's production - in the case of annual crops. - Allows Plant Protection Products to be applied more precisely
From simple systems that stop spraying in the space between two olive trees in a canopy olive grove, to more advanced systems that adjust the volume of spray to the speed of the tractor or the volume of the crop canopy. The way forward is always to apply the right FP at the right time and in the right place, so that there is no waste and maximum efficiency.
At Ascenza we are constantly concerned with defining the right time to apply our products to ensure the least impact on the environment and maximum effectiveness in pest or disease control. That's why at Ascenza we invest every year in the research and development of new products which, together with new technologies, can respond to the major challenges facing national production.