Problems of precision farming and how to live with them
I publish reflections at the request of my colleague, who is not on the habr.
Hi, my name is Seva Genin. I have been involved in GIS and agrochemistry for many years, and now I'm participating in the development of OneSoil , a free platform for farmers all over the world with AI inside.
')
The theme for Habr is a bit unusual, but exact farming is based on technology, and so I decided to reflect on his problems.
We often hear about the shortcomings of precision farming. Dissatisfied farmers, cautious agro-consultants, giving advice for money, prudent financial analysts - all point to the same pain points.
- Yes, sometimes there are technologies that are not needed by farmers. Such "technology for the sake of technology."
In my opinion, one of the reasons is that many startups have a poor understanding of the specifics of agriculture. For example, developers have seen how technology will be applied in one country - and try to use it in another. But if the production of a mobile phone in the USA and Vietnam is approximately one process, then in order to grow rice harvest in these two countries, you need to go through two different technological paths. Every country in the world has its own specificity of fields, soils, climate, farming traditions - when developing new tools, a huge number of factors must be taken into account.
To make an agrotechnical startup, you need to understand what the farmers think and what they think. For three seasons we practically lived in the fields: we left home at 4 am to return by midnight and start all over again the next day. Now we go to the fields a little less often, but every day we communicate with our friends-farmers and constantly test ideas in terms of their applicability. At the same time, I personally know several agrotech companies, whose founders have never been in the fields.
Still do not use unnecessary applications and devices. The lack of demand for this kind of development will lead to the fact that senseless start-ups will leave the market, and useful for farmers - will remain.
You can look at the question more broadly and decide for yourself what precision farming is and where you need to implement it. Now even the trackers on tractors, which measure the fuel level, have begun to be understood as this term. From my point of view, precision farming is the management system of the farm, which involves differentiated (with variable norm in different parts of the field) the introduction of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Based on this definition, if the fields are even, with the same yields, then precision farming is not needed at all. And the problem of useless applications becomes much less.
- Yes, it is, often applications and equipment are complex. I myself find it difficult to deal with the interface of some programs, let alone the farmers, who often have to appoint an individual to digitize their farm. There is one more difficulty - psychological. When several generations of your family cultivated the fields in a certain way and harvested crops, it can be difficult to decide on something new. Farmers are quite conservative, but it seems to me that we are on the verge of change. These are new market requirements - technologies increase farm efficiency and make it more competitive.
Have patience. It is important to understand that all new technologies are initially complex and accessible to a small number of people. Conversations about the need to do something with field heterogeneity began in the 1930s. For example, a textbook of the University of Illinois in 1929 , in which the author discusses how to build a soil acidity map. But active precision farming began to develop only in the two thousandth, when the quality of satellite imagery, the computing power of computers and data processing methods made it possible to determine non-uniform areas of the field and learn to control them.
We at OneSoil, for example, use Sentinel-2 satellite images with a resolution of 10 meters - the device itself was launched only in 2015. We found the boundaries of all fields in Europe and the USA with the help of a neural network - while the very concept of neural networks began to develop only in the 2000s, partly due to the appearance of sufficiently powerful graphics processors.
But there are several factors to consider. First, farming is really difficult. A plant is a living organism, influenced by a huge number of factors. Secondly, farming is not very fashionable among young people, which means that not many people are interested in these technologies and develop them. For a long time, agriculture was considered the lot of the peasants, while the population of the planet has been actively moving to cities since the end of the 19th century. But agriculture is becoming more technological and attractive. For example, according to official statistics from the United States, the number of farmers up to 35 years old is growing in the country. In addition, farming can be very profitable, because the situation will change.
- Unfortunately yes. Tractors, drills, sprinklers and other equipment with on-board computers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Field analysis in commercial online platforms is from $ 2 per hectare, and agrochemical soil analysis is from $ 10-20 per sample. I think that application developers and equipment manufacturers feel that their products are unique, which means that they will be bought anyway. On the other hand, the matter is in the high price of the development itself. Research, design, testing, implementation - in exact farming there are no well-trodden paths, therefore the price of the final product increases.
Wait and use free apps. As competition among agrotechnical companies grows, applications and equipment will become more accessible, but right now the farmer needs to invest a considerable amount in modernizing his farm. We decided that we will make free applications for farmers. Our web platform and mobile app help to get information on the fields - borders, crops, vegetation index, weather forecast, productivity zones for calculating fertilizers in a couple of minutes. We are for accessible solutions for all.
I want to show that technology can be understood. They should benefit all: not only large farms that have money for modernization, but also medium and small farms.
- Sometimes they talk about poor synchronization between appliances and applications from different manufacturers. This problem still exists, but gradually disappears. The turning point, from my point of view, was the emergence in 2001 of the ISOBUS protocol, which allows the exchange of data between the tractor and seeders, sprayers and other equipment. Today, this protocol is supported by more than 200 companies and institutions .
Manufacturers of equipment and software gradually realize that products that are closed on themselves have no future. API services appear that allow you to work with data of different formats. For example, in 2016, Trimble and John Deere announced the integration of their applications - this greatly simplifies the lives of farmers who have the equipment of both companies.
But there is another problem - the incompetence of equipment dealers. Their task is to sell their goods, dealers do not care how the farmer will then use this equipment. Sometimes dealers cannot even properly explain how a seeder or tractor works, and often farmers have no one to turn to with their questions. I hope that the situation will change soon. Perhaps, manufacturers of equipment will open something like support centers that will accompany farmers in the process of introducing precision farming - and then the need for equipment dealers will disappear.
- It is often said that there is too much noise around precision farming. After all, agrotechnologies have evolved all the time, what is new? They say that now everyone says “artificial intelligence”, “machine learning”, “neural networks”, but many applications do not work well, the data are inaccurate, and the benefits to farmers are not obvious. From my point of view, there is some noise. As one of the indicators, the constant growth of investments in this sphere: in the last year’s report of the AgFunder Fund, it is stated that investments in AgTech increased by 43% over the year and amounted to almost $ 17 billion.
As it always happens, when HYIP will decline, some companies will disappear, and the rest will learn how to make simple and necessary applications. If you are engaged in precision farming - seize the moment. Build a reputation, look for investments and make useful applications that survive the HYIP. If you are a farmer - carefully follow the technologies and learn to understand them in order to distinguish fashionable from useful. If you want to farm in the 21st century, you will have to do it anyway, so better sooner than later.
Hi, my name is Seva Genin. I have been involved in GIS and agrochemistry for many years, and now I'm participating in the development of OneSoil , a free platform for farmers all over the world with AI inside.
')
The theme for Habr is a bit unusual, but exact farming is based on technology, and so I decided to reflect on his problems.
We often hear about the shortcomings of precision farming. Dissatisfied farmers, cautious agro-consultants, giving advice for money, prudent financial analysts - all point to the same pain points.
Much useless
- Yes, sometimes there are technologies that are not needed by farmers. Such "technology for the sake of technology."
In my opinion, one of the reasons is that many startups have a poor understanding of the specifics of agriculture. For example, developers have seen how technology will be applied in one country - and try to use it in another. But if the production of a mobile phone in the USA and Vietnam is approximately one process, then in order to grow rice harvest in these two countries, you need to go through two different technological paths. Every country in the world has its own specificity of fields, soils, climate, farming traditions - when developing new tools, a huge number of factors must be taken into account.
To make an agrotechnical startup, you need to understand what the farmers think and what they think. For three seasons we practically lived in the fields: we left home at 4 am to return by midnight and start all over again the next day. Now we go to the fields a little less often, but every day we communicate with our friends-farmers and constantly test ideas in terms of their applicability. At the same time, I personally know several agrotech companies, whose founders have never been in the fields.
How to live with it?
Still do not use unnecessary applications and devices. The lack of demand for this kind of development will lead to the fact that senseless start-ups will leave the market, and useful for farmers - will remain.
You can look at the question more broadly and decide for yourself what precision farming is and where you need to implement it. Now even the trackers on tractors, which measure the fuel level, have begun to be understood as this term. From my point of view, precision farming is the management system of the farm, which involves differentiated (with variable norm in different parts of the field) the introduction of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Based on this definition, if the fields are even, with the same yields, then precision farming is not needed at all. And the problem of useless applications becomes much less.
Too hard
- Yes, it is, often applications and equipment are complex. I myself find it difficult to deal with the interface of some programs, let alone the farmers, who often have to appoint an individual to digitize their farm. There is one more difficulty - psychological. When several generations of your family cultivated the fields in a certain way and harvested crops, it can be difficult to decide on something new. Farmers are quite conservative, but it seems to me that we are on the verge of change. These are new market requirements - technologies increase farm efficiency and make it more competitive.
How to live with it?
Have patience. It is important to understand that all new technologies are initially complex and accessible to a small number of people. Conversations about the need to do something with field heterogeneity began in the 1930s. For example, a textbook of the University of Illinois in 1929 , in which the author discusses how to build a soil acidity map. But active precision farming began to develop only in the two thousandth, when the quality of satellite imagery, the computing power of computers and data processing methods made it possible to determine non-uniform areas of the field and learn to control them.
We at OneSoil, for example, use Sentinel-2 satellite images with a resolution of 10 meters - the device itself was launched only in 2015. We found the boundaries of all fields in Europe and the USA with the help of a neural network - while the very concept of neural networks began to develop only in the 2000s, partly due to the appearance of sufficiently powerful graphics processors.
But there are several factors to consider. First, farming is really difficult. A plant is a living organism, influenced by a huge number of factors. Secondly, farming is not very fashionable among young people, which means that not many people are interested in these technologies and develop them. For a long time, agriculture was considered the lot of the peasants, while the population of the planet has been actively moving to cities since the end of the 19th century. But agriculture is becoming more technological and attractive. For example, according to official statistics from the United States, the number of farmers up to 35 years old is growing in the country. In addition, farming can be very profitable, because the situation will change.
Too expensive
- Unfortunately yes. Tractors, drills, sprinklers and other equipment with on-board computers cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Field analysis in commercial online platforms is from $ 2 per hectare, and agrochemical soil analysis is from $ 10-20 per sample. I think that application developers and equipment manufacturers feel that their products are unique, which means that they will be bought anyway. On the other hand, the matter is in the high price of the development itself. Research, design, testing, implementation - in exact farming there are no well-trodden paths, therefore the price of the final product increases.
How to live with it?
Wait and use free apps. As competition among agrotechnical companies grows, applications and equipment will become more accessible, but right now the farmer needs to invest a considerable amount in modernizing his farm. We decided that we will make free applications for farmers. Our web platform and mobile app help to get information on the fields - borders, crops, vegetation index, weather forecast, productivity zones for calculating fertilizers in a couple of minutes. We are for accessible solutions for all.
I want to show that technology can be understood. They should benefit all: not only large farms that have money for modernization, but also medium and small farms.
Lack of standards
- Sometimes they talk about poor synchronization between appliances and applications from different manufacturers. This problem still exists, but gradually disappears. The turning point, from my point of view, was the emergence in 2001 of the ISOBUS protocol, which allows the exchange of data between the tractor and seeders, sprayers and other equipment. Today, this protocol is supported by more than 200 companies and institutions .
How to live with it?
Manufacturers of equipment and software gradually realize that products that are closed on themselves have no future. API services appear that allow you to work with data of different formats. For example, in 2016, Trimble and John Deere announced the integration of their applications - this greatly simplifies the lives of farmers who have the equipment of both companies.
But there is another problem - the incompetence of equipment dealers. Their task is to sell their goods, dealers do not care how the farmer will then use this equipment. Sometimes dealers cannot even properly explain how a seeder or tractor works, and often farmers have no one to turn to with their questions. I hope that the situation will change soon. Perhaps, manufacturers of equipment will open something like support centers that will accompany farmers in the process of introducing precision farming - and then the need for equipment dealers will disappear.
Everything is just noise
- It is often said that there is too much noise around precision farming. After all, agrotechnologies have evolved all the time, what is new? They say that now everyone says “artificial intelligence”, “machine learning”, “neural networks”, but many applications do not work well, the data are inaccurate, and the benefits to farmers are not obvious. From my point of view, there is some noise. As one of the indicators, the constant growth of investments in this sphere: in the last year’s report of the AgFunder Fund, it is stated that investments in AgTech increased by 43% over the year and amounted to almost $ 17 billion.
How to live with it?
As it always happens, when HYIP will decline, some companies will disappear, and the rest will learn how to make simple and necessary applications. If you are engaged in precision farming - seize the moment. Build a reputation, look for investments and make useful applications that survive the HYIP. If you are a farmer - carefully follow the technologies and learn to understand them in order to distinguish fashionable from useful. If you want to farm in the 21st century, you will have to do it anyway, so better sooner than later.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/451998/
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