The traditional ecosystem of agriculture support is large when you think of all the players that help farmers with their crops each year. You have various crop consultants and agronomists that make recommendations for fertilizer, pesticide, and seed. Some do soil sampling to evaluate the soil structure, characteristics, and distribution throughout fields. Irrigation companies design and install lines for proper water pressure and flow. Equipment companies provide all manner of diesel and gas (and now electric) equipment to keep the farms running smoothly.
In recent years, the support space has exploded with additional players in the technology realm. Multitudes of start-ups and existing companies are jumping on this $20 billion bandwagon, hoping to make a name in one of the four major pillars of ag tech: imagery, sensors, automation, and farm management systems. AgTech Market Report and Forecast (2024-2032) estimates that the ag tech industry will grow at a rate of 15% annually and is estimated to reach a value of $56.6 billion by 2032. Trying to keep up with all the new technologies is like trying to drink through a fire hose. Below is a brief discussion of just a few technologies in each of the four pillars.
Imagery:
Satellite companies have made huge technological gains in recent years in terms of imagery resolution and price, the number of bands captured, and the analysis and insights that can be gained from using those bands for crop health indices and a soil’s nutrient and water content.
Drone companies are now offering spot spraying and targeted releases of beneficial bugs in addition to imagery and analysis. Drone cameras are becoming more sophisticated with the number of bands up to seven and resolution down to 0.5 in. Some companies are combining historical and current satellite imagery with soil sampling to determine the soil carbon content of fields for carbon credits and regenerative ag.
Sensors:
Connected sensors and devices help farmers get information beyond the field in front of them. Some provide alerts for frost and wind speeds, broken irrigation valves, and soil moisture conditions. Other sensors and devices track piecemeal labor during fruit harvest, tallying the total amount of fruit harvested at a given location in the field and the amounts harvested by individual workers.
Field scans are performed to see a complete subsurface picture of soil structure, type, and fertility so irrigation and planting can be done more effectively. Different internet setups like WAN and LoRA allow far-reaching fields to be connected by IoT devices so farmers can view the wind speed at a field miles away to determine if they should spray that day.
Automation:
Automation has also made large leaps in technological advances in recent years with the two main goals of reducing labor and/or increasing yield. Tractors, fruit pickers/harvesters, variable rate sprayers and seeders, and precision irrigation and fertigation all have become automated in combination with sensors and imagery.
Players from as far away as Israel and New Zealand are developing and deploying fruit-picking robots that use sensors to identify ripe apples and a vacuum arm to remove them gently from branches. This will be a game-changer in the apple growing regions of the U.S., namely Washington State, New York, and Michigan. In the Midwest, autonomous grain carts can be called to saddle up to a harvester at just the right speed to receive a grain dump, also a game-changer when good labor is so hard to come by.
Farm Management Systems:
Farm management systems (FMS) are software solutions that aim to provide management efficiencies around operations, personnel, finance, data and analytics, and planning/forecasting. Many FMS companies provide solutions around one or a few of the different sectors of farm management. Some also integrate data from imagery, sensor, and automation providers by combining data sets from these different sectors in one place. It enables farmers to see a larger picture of their farm and begin to make decisions that are more strategic.
One of the major benefits of FMS is that generational data can be stored and easily shared with others, so passing the farm from parent to child becomes easier, or when a farm is purchased from another family. It also allows for generational knowledge from seasoned workers to be stored digitally, making the transfer of duties and knowledge easier as people retire.
Over the next six months, I will provide a deep dive into the four pillars of ag tech, exploring the many different technologies available and their strengths, weaknesses, and market readiness. My experience is that farmers get inundated with different technologies and have a hard time deciding which ones are “cool to have” versus “useful to have.” The goal, of course, is to identify technologies that are easy to use and provide a return on investment through either increased yields or decreased costs. What technologies are you interested in learning more about?
Great article, thanks the concise description of what agtech includes. I’m trying to get up to speed on agtech and this helps! I noticed that your examples are for plant agriculture. Will you be looking at dairy or other animal ag applications? For example, I just came across this company and found it interesting: https://www.halterhq.com/en-us/about. Looking forward to Part 2.