Because – although probably don’t realize it – you are at the intersection of two disparate, yet converging trends.
Trend 1: Drought. California is one of five global breadbaskets, as previously discussed here, and the drought will accelerate the need for applied technology in the natural resource space.
Trend 2: The Internet of Things. Which, as we lift off, includes apps like meat thermometers that tell your smartphone when the roast is done.
Kind of puny. There is, as well know, great potential, and that’s where those two trends intersect, and where developers and integrators can make their chops.
There are many devices going up on the web, and they don’t always go up well. Corporate buyers and consumers are waiting for proof of concept – proof of complex communication that pretty much always works.
Agtech is your proving ground. The urgency is real, and will motivate large-scale cooperation – because people’s lives and livelihoods depend on it.
Forget the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Things like integrating doorlocks and smoke sensors and lights – the security system guys already own that.
Focus on connecting this pathway: Satellite to irrigation network to soil sensor to sprinkler head to plant stress indicator to grower’s handheld, and then integrate with his/her GPS.
"This just turns the water on and off," you may be thinking, "booooooring."
Wrong. Conserving water is mandatory. Applying water when and where it’s needed is essential, and incredibly variable.
Let’s say you farm 500 acres of tree crops or row vegetables. Your farm will have several zones – each with slightly different soils and drainage types. There are many decisions to be made daily, and each decision influences production and costs.
But wait, there’s more. Micro-irrigation systems deliver nutrients, too. Elements in the water and these fertilizers periodically clog the tiny emitters. This information network must sense a clog and report back.
To illustrate the magnitude of just one agtech opportunity, integrating field water delivery:
- Less than 10% of irrigated farms use advanced water management decision tools, such as soil sensors, computer-based crop growth simulators, integrated GPS and more, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (Sept. 2012 bulletin).
- There are 80,000 farmers in California alone, and about 10,000 of those are full-time producers.
- Agricultural enterprises consume roughly 40% of the state’s water, according to the Department of Water Resources.
(Follow Techwire’s agricultural and food technology expert Bob Gore on twitter. Agtech updates daily: @robertjgore)
