Technology in Agriculture
by: Brooke Duffy, Taylor Fettig, and Chad McCarthy
Agricultural drones allow farmers to monitor crop and livestock conditions from the air to keep watch for potential problems and help optimize field management🚜
Agricultural robots are machines that help with tasks such as planting crops, watering plants, and harvesting fruits and vegetables. While there are some concerns about how these robots will impact the workforce, many farmers believe that they will greatly help reduce labor costs and increase profit margins.
Global
Technologies are used in the farming world in all sorts of ways throughout the globe. There are thousands of Ag Tech companies all around the world that specialize in developing and applying new technology to farms everywhere. Ag Tech Insight is a specific consulting firm that provides global expertise on innovative strategies to over 125 countries implementing and collaborating with people in the agriculture industry.
In developing countries, technology and innovative practices are implemented but at a slower rate than developed countries. The graph shown to the left, from statistica.com, shows the market value of Ag Tech companies around the world. You can see that the majority of technology is in North America, China including the areas around it, and throughout Europe. This makes it known that developing areas may need a bit more help securing the agricultural technologies that they need.
National
The USDA formed an association known as The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) which plays a huge role in the innovation of new agricultural technologies in the United States. The NIFA doesn't just implement new advanced practices but also makes sure that agricultural industries around the country can utilize these technologies. NIFA advances agricultural technology and ensures that the nation’s agricultural industries are able to utilize it by supporting:
Basic research and development in physical sciences, engineering, and computer sciences
Development of agricultural devices, sensors, and systems
Applied research that assesses how to employ technologies economically and with minimal disruption to existing practices
Assistance and instruction to farmers on how to use new technologies
Local
Square Roots is an urban indoor farming company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The company will bring its Next-Gen Farmer Training Program to Grand Rapids in September. The goal of the program is to train young people in indoor urban farming and grow localized food and herbs year-round in technology-driven environments.
The year-long program enables farmers to study the molecular level of the plant as it grows, get hands-on experience with the business side of farming so they can pursue a start-up indoor urban farm and get involved with the community.
The company will partner with Gordon Food Service to distribute food that is grown by farmers enrolled in the training program to its consumers and retailers across the country.
History Of Technology In Agriculture
In the early 1900s, the horse-drawn plow activated the introduction of more machinery on farms. The first tractors were too expensive for most farmers, but the gasoline-powered tractor was invented in 1892. Since then the agriculture industry has completely transformed over the past 50 years. Advances in agricultural machinery have expanded the scale, speed, and productivity of farm equipment, leading to more efficient cultivation of more land. Seed, irrigation, and fertilizers also have vastly improved, helping farmers increase yields.
Implementation Plan
SAP at GVSU is a field site with a ready-made community of people on a small working farm perfect for sociological study. It is also a business that produces and sells food to support its activities. We can implement indoor vertical farming. This is where crops are grown inside and under lights. The advantages are numerous: higher productivity in a much smaller area, shorter growing times, lower water use, and fresh produce grown much closer to where it's eaten. Vertical farming can seriously be considered when looking at ways to implement new technologies in our SAP project at Grand Valley.
One way to implement new technology in agricultures is using the laser scarecrow system. The system helps farmers protect crops like sweet corn from being devoured by birds like starlings and red-winged blackbirds. Placing a laser light or figure does no harm to the birds' environment and protects crops.
The sustainable Agriculture project at GVSU gives students the ability to grow, reduce and experiment with agriculture and its profound benefits to our communities.
Technological advances within agriculture have proven to provide essential benefits to farms around the world, some are as follows:
Higher crop productivity
Decreased use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides, which in turn keeps food prices down
Reduced impact on natural ecosystems
Less runoff of chemicals into rivers and groundwater
Increased worker safety
Locally, GVSU is proud to stand behind the students involved in our Sustainable Agriculture projects throughout campus and surrounding areas. Come check us out!
Timeline
May 1, 2023 - To start off on implementing an indoor vertical farming facility, SAP can meet with GVSU to discuss a number of things. SAP would discuss getting equipment like stackable planting shelves and light fixtures to go with them. We could discuss where this can go and propose a number of ideas as if it can be located right on the SAP farm, somewhere in a lab for now, or even building a new facility. Once everything is finalized we can start ordering the materials we need to get started. This should include all building materials for the building itself, stackable planting shelves, accessible ladders to get to the tops of shelves, seeds, innovative tech for monitoring plant growth, and other farming equipment.
June 1, 2023 - The new facility can start to be built at the SAP farm. Since we are using vertical farming the building does not have to be huge in square feet but could have tall ceilings.
September 1, 2023 - By the start of the next fall semester, and with the building being completed, SAP students can being to plant certain crops. They can use the technology ordered to monitor how certain crops grow in the new facility and use the technology in different ways for growing strategies. Throughout the year students can analyze and compare how useful the indoor vertical farming facility is compared to outdoor farming.
Budget
The budget depends on what GVSU would allow and what they would want to use as well. If GVSU approved of everything SAP would want to do the estimated budget would be as follows:
Building facility: $200,000
Stackable planting shelves: $15,000
Ladders that attach to shelves: $4,000
Lights: $25,000
Innovative farming technology such as growth monitors, testing equipment, etc.: $50,000
Plants and Soil: $15,000
Total: $309,000
Utilities for building, including water: $4,000 per month
Triple Bottom Line Analysis
People/Social
Pros:
the GVSU community and SAP students come together to experience new innovative agricultural technology
makes GVSU look innovative and resourceful
Cons:
People may disagree that it is a bad idea or view it differently
Planet/Environmental
Pros:
Uses less farm land since it is vertically stacked, preserving the land
No heavy equipment used when farming that would emit carbon emissions
Cons:
Construction of the facility doesn't help the environment
Profit/Economical
Pros:
Long-term financial benefits
Crops can be grown all year since it is indoors, making more profit
Can farm more efficiently moving upward instead of trying to spread out to more land
Cons:
Expensive in the short term
