5 Exciting Technologies Changing Farming Right Now

Eolas Álainn said:

Hmm to me that still reads as a lack of communication between designers, suppliers and farmers. You do raise an interesting point about the assurances (must have missed that in your previous posts) for purchasing a new system. Generally speaking software across technology has a short lifespan before it's outdated. I can't imagine it would be any different in farming. But (as you literally just pointed out as I was typing this) most of these OS get regularly updated for free so it extends the lifespan of the hardware you are using considerably.

If we take aware connectivity issues, would the speed of outdating technology be a large area of concern then?

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steveR said:

I have tried to get my head around the blockchain concept and decided it is beyond me, but unlikely to provide me with any benefit whatsoever

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Treg said:

There was a chap on here in the spring really into his robotics and was sending equipment out to India just as Covid struck , can't remember his user name but you would both benefit from contacting each other.
Anybody else remember his name?

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Treg said:

@infiniteConciously may have been him , similar to that name , Sorry if it is wrong.
You would be right up each others street.

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infiniteConciously said:

blockchain isn’t ready for the farming industry just yet (in my opinion), imagine the internet in its “dial up modem phase” that’s where blockchain is right now. Crypto needs more infrastructure built and decentralised mobile apps to thrive. We will see rapid dev in BC between now and next Bitcoin halving. But yeah it’s like 2001 when everyone was buying domains but there’s no Amazons or eBays yet.

Blockchain and agriculture scares the life out of me. As it will put a lot of smaller farmers out of business eventually. But that’s just my anticapitalist view.




Thanks Treg, that sounds like me!

Sam feel to drop me a pm if needed my thread explains a lot of what I am about. Most of my focus is on Indian farming and lack of tech and the open source opportunities that can change people’s livelihoods if executed well. I’ve not updated the thread in a while due to covid and 2020 being a horrid year.

I do believe farming needs a much stronger “open source hacking” or “maker” community otherwise smaller farmers will eventually get left behind firms that develop the best tech and sell it to the highest bidders.

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thesilentone said:

Funny old place India, where cows are a religious animal. India is one of, if not the biggest dairy producer in the World, however a dairy cow in the USA produces 12 x times the milk per lactation, than a cow in India. Using the global warming argument, the solution is simple. genetics and feeding. So, same output with maybe 10 x times less number of cows, less emissions, less pollution, less cost, less, less, less.....

How can technology convince the Indian's to change track ?

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som farmer said:

it wont, for years to come. Habit, but perhaps comparing balance sheets, a few differences, could arise, profit and loss, is the key component, to all industry, Overheads, in India, may be way lower, than those in the USA.

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How India looks to improve its dairy sector - State of the art milking parlour

Image & Text Courtesy: AFP In Pic: Friesian breed cows are seen inside the rotary at the Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farm located northeast of the Indian city of Pune, on January 12, 2012. Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farm lies tucked away up a rutted country track, among the patchwork of dusty brown scrub and lush...

economictimes.indiatimes.com

11 amazing facts about dairy farming in India - Farmers Weekly

Dairy farming in India is a world away from what British farmers would recognise. See also: Dairy Crest suppliers launch first dairy producer organisation

www.fwi.co.uk

thesilentone said:

Funny old place India, where cows are a religious animal. India is one of, if not the biggest dairy producer in the World, however a dairy cow in the USA produces 12 x times the milk per lactation, than a cow in India. Using the global warming argument, the solution is simple. genetics and feeding. So, same output with maybe 10 x times less number of cows, less emissions, less pollution, less cost, less, less, less.....

How can technology convince the Indian's to change track ?

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thesilentone said:

Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into a dairy thread, it was more case of how technology can play a part.

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som farmer said:

robotic technology, is a new, and important forward looking way of farming. No doubt of that, at all, there are, however, lots of buts, probably the biggest, after price, is how we actually use them, taking milking robots, as an example, people put them in, as 'time saving', they are not, what they do do, is let you spend extra time, with your cows, keeping them in a1 condition, it's that, that produces more milk. Attitude, and capability, has to be correct, to fully understand, and successfully use them, and, again with milk, many farmers, simply cannot use/cope with them.
On the arable side, there is huge potential, mapping yield, adjusting fert rates, pin point accuracy, etc. Weeding with robots, thus saving sprays, etc. Horticulture, use of robots, potential is mind boggling.
But, it all comes down to profit, being a cynical old bugger, all i can see, is a rise in production, of food, but little, or no, increase in our price. The guvs requirement, for cheap food, should never be underestimated, and, by giving out grants, they encourage farmers, to buy into technology, effectively, creating a good customer base, for the firms developing these products. The fact that they can reduce costs, is fine, but, the price, of that product, doesn't increase to us, so, all that is achieved, is, an increase in food production, thus keeping food prices lower, and a good 'sub' to the technology industry.
Until, the price of our product, to us, increases, many good tech product, will remain an expensive widget. But, what they do achieve, is to keep reducing production costs, thereby, helping to keep food prices, static, or reduced, which is the guvs policy. We, as farmers, have been conditioned, to want to produce more, and more, but, if we want to increase profit, we have to produce less, which is definitely not guvs desire, which brings us around to food subsidies, and why they were introduced, to keep food price, to the public, at a reasonable price, and to give the farmer, a bung, to cover costs.

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infiniteConciously said:

Yeah prob best not to hijack this guys thread into something else, I’m here to learn about his views on tech!!

That said, I honestly do believe that open source community led farming tech on a global scale is super important. Super super important. Ie it’s free tech for those whom want to tinker at cost price.

I’ll explain a little regarding my personal understanding of Indian attitude to cows etc in my thread when I get a chance.

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Eolas Álainn said:

https://oinksandbots.com/what-technology-will-be-used-in-farming-tomorrow/

I actually took a lot of what was said in this thread and created a new article with some additional points added with what I had dug up (sometimes literally). Some of the points are in my previous article but I've added and expanded on them so there may be slight repetition.

I focused mostly on looking at the future of farming both as a lifestyle and as a business model and how best to improve it. I've personally found that the average age of farmers is eh... mature! So some of the things I've looked at is how to make farms more efficient by making them larger and by extension more attractive to business owners who can reinvest into the sector.

I've also dug up some old research I did back in uni on pesticides and looked up some more current research and gave my two cents on the use of biopesticides vs chemical pesticides.

I also took another stab at explaining the benefits of blockchains. I really do think that we need to get ahead of the curve on this otherwise those of us who don't will be left by the wayside.

Let me know what you think!

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Tech-Savvy Beef Cattle? How Heifers Respond to Moving Virtual Fence Lines

Physical fences are not always possible, thus automated technology called “virtual fencing” provides a potential solution. Virtual fencing uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and animals wear collar devices. As animals approach ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

som farmer said:

robotic technology, is a new, and important forward looking way of farming. No doubt of that, at all, there are, however, lots of buts, probably the biggest, after price, is how we actually use them, taking milking robots, as an example, people put them in, as 'time saving', they are not, what they do do, is let you spend extra time, with your cows, keeping them in a1 condition, it's that, that produces more milk. Attitude, and capability, has to be correct, to fully understand, and successfully use them, and, again with milk, many farmers, simply cannot use/cope with them.
On the arable side, there is huge potential, mapping yield, adjusting fert rates, pin point accuracy, etc. Weeding with robots, thus saving sprays, etc. Horticulture, use of robots, potential is mind boggling.
But, it all comes down to profit, being a cynical old bugger, all i can see, is a rise in production, of food, but little, or no, increase in our price. The guvs requirement, for cheap food, should never be underestimated, and, by giving out grants, they encourage farmers, to buy into technology, effectively, creating a good customer base, for the firms developing these products. The fact that they can reduce costs, is fine, but, the price, of that product, doesn't increase to us, so, all that is achieved, is, an increase in food production, thus keeping food prices lower, and a good 'sub' to the technology industry.
Until, the price of our product, to us, increases, many good tech product, will remain an expensive widget. But, what they do achieve, is to keep reducing production costs, thereby, helping to keep food prices, static, or reduced, which is the guvs policy. We, as farmers, have been conditioned, to want to produce more, and more, but, if we want to increase profit, we have to produce less, which is definitely not guvs desire, which brings us around to food subsidies, and why they were introduced, to keep food price, to the public, at a reasonable price, and to give the farmer, a bung, to cover costs.

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anyela said:

I am extremely late to this post but I hope you can continue enlightening us. I always wonder why farmers continue to use the same traditional tools as oppose to the most sophisticated ones that new technologies offer.

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