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June 14,2019,Philippines—The increasing demands of consumers for smarter and more convenient products and services have pushed the global manufacturing industry to make its operations and solutions digital. Recent and advanced industrial manufacturing solutions for agriculture, however, are less about consumer demands. Instead, they are more concerned with our collective survival.

United Nations in their 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects report showed that around 55% of today’s world population lives in urban areas and is expected to increase to 68% by the year 2050. Although urbanization presents plenty of benefits to people including more better-paying job opportunities and easier access to important facilities like hospitals, it favors industrialization which will ultimately kill the agricultural sector. Not to mention, the aging population of farmers and the youth’s reluctance to enter the said field puts the industry at a greater risk of perishing.

Because farming relies heavily on physical work, agriculture benefiting from digital transformations in technology might look like a reach for some. However, the reality is technology can be a sustainable and scalable resource for the industry if used properly. Here are ways on how agriculture can thrive in the digital era.

IoT and sensors

Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly being leveraged in manufacturing engineering to come up with better manufacturing solutions and produce better products. Combined with sensors, IoT can also be extremely helpful in the agricultural sector.

Sensors with IoT technology can monitor crops on behalf of farmers and provide them with up-to-date information from anywhere in the world. They can also detect moisture and nitrogen levels in the field which is beneficial in accurately determining when the land needs to be watered or fertilized rather than relying on a predetermined schedule.

Furthermore, IoT can also be integrated into agriculture equipment. They can monitor the health of the machine and alert the farmers ahead of time to reduce downtime machine experiences while on the field. They can also provide navigation systems to make navigating on uneven terrain much easier.

Digital weather tracking

Weather is a significant factor for the growth of crops and livestock. However, global warming and other environmental problems have made it harder to predict the weather by only observing the skies. Fortunately, there are online weather services that focus exclusively on agriculture. Better yet, farmers do not have to spend lots of money to access it. They just have to download the apps on their smartphones, and they will be receiving weather updates and predictions as soon as possible.

Pervasive automation

Automation does not always take away jobs from people. In many sectors including agriculture, it simply makes the workload lighter and lets the worker focus on other tasks. Autonomous vehicles in agriculture already exist, and they are mostly controlled either by robotics or remotely through terminals. Navigation systems that find and make the best seeding and fertilization routes depending on the land are also part of this automation.

If pervasive automation continues to grow in the agriculture industry, it should only be a matter of time before tractors and other large farming machines become automated as well.

Minichromosome technology

Perhaps, one of the most innovative and exciting industrial manufacturing solutions in agriculture in the digital era is the minichromosome technology. A minichromosome is a small chromosome that contains very little genetic material but also can also plenty of information. Through minichromosome technology, agricultural geneticists can artificially engineer a plant’s characteristics by introducing new traits into its existing genes. For example, a plant can be engineered to survive longer in drought conditions or be insect-resistant all through minichromosome technology.

Unlike with many technological disruptions in other global manufacturing industries, people outside the agricultural sector will most likely not notice the AgTech revolution. However, the improvements in industrial manufacturing solutions will surely bring huge conveniences to everyone and help extend the lifespan of our world.