THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO SMART

AGRICULTURE AND FARMING

If you want to learn more about how to implement smart farming technologies for your
agricultural business, you’ll enjoy this comprehensive guide that tells you everything you need to
know.

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THE SMART AGRICULTURE WORLDWIDE
9.7 BILLION
THE WORLD’S POPULATION BY 2050.
69%
THE INCREASE IN GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BETWEEN 2010 AND
2050.
In the next few decades, the agricultural industry is set to become more important than ever
before as it will need to meet the demands of a growing population. That’s why farmers and
agribusinesses are turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart farming technologies for
improved analytics and greater production capabilities.

TIMELINE OF AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTIONS

Since humans have been cultivating food and rearing livestock, technological innovations have
been improving agricultural outputs.

Today, the IoT will take the future of farming to the next level. In this guide, we’ve outlined how
smart agriculture will help farmers meet the world’s food demands in years to come.

CHAPTERS

01

WHAT IS SMART AGRICULTURE AND SMART FARMING?

02

SMART FARMING USING IOT

03

ADVANTAGES OF SMART FARMING

04

CHALLENGES IN SMART FARMING

05

SMART FARMING TECHNIQUES

06

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SMART FARMING AND PRECISION

AGRICULTURE?

07

THE GLOBAL SMART FARMING MARKET

08

SMART FARMING SOLUTIONS

CHAPTER 01.

WHAT IS SMART AGRICULTURE AND SMART FARMING?

Also known as Farming 4.0 or digital farming, smart farming is the application of information
and data technologies to optimise complex farming systems. It involves individual machines and
all farm operations.

HOW DOES DIGITAL FARMING WORK?

Smart farming incorporates information and communication technologies into machinery,

equipment and sensors used in agricultural production systems. Technologies such as the IoT and
cloud computing are advancing this development even further by introducing more robots and
artificial intelligence into farming.

For example, farmers can use smartphones and tablets to access real-time data about the
condition of almost anything involved in their day-to-day operations:

SOIL

PLANTS

TERRAIN

WEATHER

LOCATION OF ASSETS

CONDITION OF ASSETS

LIVESTOCK

RESOURCE USAGE
Smart agricultural practices allow for the generation of a large volume of data and information.
Farmers can use this information to make data-based decisions and take action for improved
productivity and profitability.

WHERE DID IT ALL BEGIN?

WHAT TECHNOLOGY IS USED IN FARMING?

Agricultural technology has been evolving over the last 10,000 or so years. Simple hand tools
gradually evolved into the mechanical equipment that now runs almost every aspect of
commercial farming. However, this kind of technology is generally based on mechanical
engineering solutions, without much in the way of ‘intelligence’. But now, things are beginning
to change…

Today, the phenomenon of smart farming is being propelled by rapid developments in the
IoT and cloud computing.

WHAT IS THE IOT?

Allows objects to be controlled remotely via a network infrastructure.

It creates opportunities for direct integration between the physical world and digital systems. In
this guide, we discuss how the IoT is used in agriculture.

HOW DOES SMART FARMING WORK?

The use of smart farming tools is possible due to the use of sensors connected to a network.

WHAT IS A SENSOR?

A sensor is an electrotechnical device. It:

1. Measures physical quantities from the environment

2. Converts these measurements into a signal
3. The signal is read and interpreted by an instrument.

WHAT CAN A SENSOR DO?

The measurements read by include (but are not limited to):

 Temperature
 Humidity
 Light
 Pressure
 Noise
 Speed
  Direction
 Size & weight

HOW IS DIGITAL FARM TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMING AGRICULTURE?

Farming ‘smarter’ is no longer an ‘advanced’ tactic for savvy farmers; it’s becoming an
increasingly necessary way to optimise and preserve human and natural resources.

 Farm labour is becoming increasingly scarce due to urban migration and ageing
populations.
 Intensifying climate change is altering growing conditions in less predictable ways.
 Earth’s resources and biodiversity are diminishing.

Smart farming tools can help reduce these impacts, minimise environmental constraints
and reduce production costs in farming activities. Smart farming tools introduce a new level
of technology into agriculture, including mapping, robotics, geomatics, automation, decision
making and statistical processes.

CHAPTER 02.

SMART FARMING USING IOT

IoT technology converges numerous technologies:

 Real-time analytics
 Machine learning
 Commodity sensors
 Embedded systems
 Wireless sensor networks
 Control systems
 Automation
 And more…

HOW DOES DIGITAL FARMING WORK?

By using IoT sensors to collect machine and environmental data, farmers can make informed
decisions and improve almost all farm operations. IoT in agriculture can also be used to automate
farming techniques, optimise the utilisation of resources and minimise risk.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH IOT IN AGRICULTURE

AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION

MANAGE LIVESTOCK WITH RICH DATA INSIGHTS

WEATHER FORECASTING
 SENSOR-BASED SMART PRECISION AGRICULTURE

REMOTE CROP YIELD OPTIMISATION

SOIL HEALTH MONITORING

SMART WAREHOUSING, LOGISTICS AND DISTRIBUTION

REMOTE ASSET MONITORING

IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE PRODUCE

GREENHOUSE MONITORING WITH REAL-TIME DATA

WEED CONTROL

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS FOR CROP SUSTAINABILITY

CHAPTER 03.

ADVANTAGES OF SMART FARMING

EFFICIENCY

SUSTAINABILITY

COST-EFFECTIVENESS

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF IOT IN FARMING?

Ultimately, the goal of smart farming is to be able to observe and record data and automate
processes to improve overall production output while minimising cost and preserving resources.

Smart farming technologies have the potential to transform the agricultural sector. Here are some
of the advantages of smart farming.

REMOVE HUMAN ERROR

Using smart sensors reduces manual work, and thus human error. For example, a person taking a
cow’s temperature could take or record an inaccurate reading; whereas a temperature
bolus inserted into the rumen of the cow sends accurate temperature data straight to a
management dashboard.

Read more about how to insert a cattle bolus.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Data collected by smart agriculture sensors can be used to track the state of the business as well
as security, staff performance, equipment efficiency and so much more.

MORE CONTROL OVER INTERNAL PROCESSES

With more control (even remotely), farmers can reduce risks and plan better. For example, If you
know exactly how large your yield is going to be, you can ensure that you find enough buyers
and your product won’t lie around unsold.

ENHANCED PRODUCT QUALITY AND YIELD

Automation allows farmers to achieve better control over the production process and maintain
higher standards of crop quality and higher yields.

COST MANAGEMENT

Increased control over production allows for better cost management. In addition, being alerted
early to any anomalies in crop growth or livestock health allows farmers to mitigate costly risks.

IMPROVED EFFICIENCY

Increase agricultural efficiency through process automation. Smart devices can help you
automate operations such as irrigation, fertilising and pest control.

REDUCED HUMAN RESOURCES

Because smart technology automates manual processes, this reduces your reliance on human
resources. For example, instead of heading out into the fields to locate your cattle, a cattle
collar connected to the IoT can report back on an animal’s location data in real time.

SAVE ON INSURANCE PREMIUMS

Our UK farmers save an average of 10% on insurance premiums by mitigating the risk of loss
and damage from thieves and vandals, livestock and crop disease, trespassers and unleashed
dogs.

EARLY DISEASE DETECTION AND PREVENTION

Lower mortality rates and ensure a healthier herd with technologies like a livestock bolus, which
reports on an animal’s internal temperature in real time.

‘BEEF UP’ YOUR SECURITY

Smart sensors can detect unwanted activities happening on the farm, such as gates opening,
assets being tampered with, livestock crossing geofenced locations and more. IoT technologies
can help protect the storage of crops, fertiliser and fuel, secure your farm perimeters and
buildings and safeguard your workers.

CHAPTER 04.

CHALLENGES IN SMART FARMING

Like any change to processes, the implementation of smart farming doesn’t come without its
challenges, such as:

 IoT security
 Threat solutions/protocols
 Operational technology
 Data storage
 Cloud platforms
 Power supplies etc.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN IMPLEMENTING SMART FARMING

SOLUTIONS

HARDWARE

Your choice of hardware will depend on the types of information you want to collect and your
overall smart farming goals. It’s important that any sensors or other hardware collect data
accurately and reliably.

DATA ANALYSIS

At the core of every smart agriculture solution are powerful data analytics capabilities. It’s one
thing to collect data, but the data collected will be of little help if you’re not able to make sense
of it. You need a software solution that can help you obtain actionable insights using the data
collected.

HARDWARE MAINTENANCE

Sensors used in the field need to be able to withstand the conditions in which they’re placed.
Thus, your smart farming hardware should be durable and easy to maintain.

MOBILITY

Mobility is a key component of smart farming – you need to be able to access the information
you need from anywhere, at any time.

CONNECTIVITY
Each connected device should have enough wireless range to communicate with the other
sensors devices and send data to the central server and reporting dashboard. The connection
between IoT facilities should be reliable enough to withstand bad weather conditions and to
ensure non-disruptive operations.

INFRASTRUCTURE

You need a solid, secure internal infrastructure to ensure that your smart farming application
performs well. It also needs to be able to handle the data load.

DATA COLLECTION FREQUENCY

Safe and timely delivery of a wide variety of data types is one of the current challenges presented
by smart farming. Data from aerial, environmental and field-based sensors along with tags on
machinery and equipment all needs to be delivered timeously to allow farmers to make decisions
based on this inter-related information.

DATA SECURITY

IoT technology in agriculture implies working with large sets of data. This also means more
potential security risks, such as data theft and hacking attacks. That’s why it’s important that all
smart farming devices and applications are encrypted and secure.

CHAPTER 05.

SMART FARMING TECHNIQUES

When it comes to the application of smart technology in agriculture, the opportunities are
limitless. With the IoT, farmers can use their smartphones or any connected devices to monitor
their equipment, crops, and livestock remotely. In doing so, they also gain valuable information
and data on which to base immediate and future decision making.

FARM SECURITY
£54M

THE COST OF RURAL CRIME IN THE UK IN 2019.

Rural crime is a major problem worldwide, costing farmers productivity and profits. Smart
technology has the potential to reduce theft and increase asset recovery rates. Here are some
of the devices that farmers can use to secure their land and assets:

GPS TAGS

For moveable assets

 TRACTOR GUIDANCE GPS TAGS

Sense any tampering of GPS tractor tags

PERIMETER PROTECTION

Light beam sensors protect all openings

CCTV

Monitor key locations in real time

ELECTRIC FENCE THEFT MONITORING

Instant alerts if an electric fence is powered down or stolen

MONITORING AND RECOVERY

Track down stolen assets

MOTION SENSORS

Notify of unauthorised movement of your assets

PRESSURE PADS

You’ll know immediately if an item has been moved

These connected sensors can send instant alerts straight to a farmer’s smartphone when any
disruption occurs, helping them to take action swiftly.

MONITORING CLIMATE CONDITIONS

Some of the most widely used smarter agriculture devices include weather stations that combine
data from various smart farming sensors. These sensors collect data about the environment and
send it to the cloud, helping farmers to tailor their responses according to climate conditions.
LIVESTOCK MONITORING

IoT technologies can help farmers monitor livestock health and location. Livestock tracking
devices collect data on stock location, and livestock temperature monitoring devices can help
farmers identify sick animals.

The benefits of livestock monitoring include:

 Early disease detection and containment

 Reduce vet and antibiotic spend
 Early detection of movement or tampering
 Quick recovery of stolen livestock
 Reduced labour dependence
 Expedite diagnosis and treatment
 Accurately predict calving
 Raise productivity

GREENHOUSE AUTOMATION
In the past, farmers have used manual interventions to control the greenhouse environment. By
using IoT sensors, they can gain accurate real-time information on greenhouse conditions,
including:

 Lighting
 Temperature
 Soil condition
 Humidity

Along with reporting on greenhouse condition data, smart weather stations can also use
predefined settings (and machine learning) to automatically adjust the environmental conditions
to match the given parameters.

CROP MANAGEMENT

Crop management devices can be placed in the field to collect data specific to crop farming,
including temperature, precipitation and overall crop health. Having this knowledge accessible at
any time, from anywhere allows the farmer to monitor crop growth efficiently and take steps to
prevent any unwanted outcomes.

AGRICULTURAL DRONES

The use of agricultural drones has proved to be a massive advancement in smart farming. They
can perform a vast array of tasks previously requiring human labour:

 Surveillance capabilities
 Planting crops
 Fighting pests and infections
 Agriculture spraying
 Crop monitoring
 Livestock monitoring

CROP YIELD OPTIMISATION

Real-time data taken from a smart agriculture solution can optimise crop yields by:
  Using data such as moisture levels, soil quality and weather conditions to suggest a
practical plan for harvesting.
 Recommending preventive measures to decrease the chances of crop damage.
 Optimising the productivity of individual plants through smart precision farming.

SOIL QUALITY MONITORING

IoT smart farming sensors in the soil can identify the condition of the soil to help farmers apply
smart precision farming techniques, optimise applications and conduct soil restoration where
necessary. Soil quality is one of the defining factors in healthy crops and a good yield, so being
able to understand soil conditions and optimise them allows farmers to reap significant benefits.

SMART PRECISION FARMING

WHAT IS THE AIM OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE?

The use of Internet of Things smart farming sensors allows farmers to collect a vast array of
metrics and data to enable them to apply the optimal amounts of inputs such as water, fertilisers
and pesticides. For example, using soil sensors to measure soil moisture, temperature, and
nutrient density enables farmers to address the individual needs of each crop. The result of this is
reduced costs and healthier crops.

Along with smart precision farming, the data collected from IoT devices on the farm can be
analysed to help farmers come up with important predictions regarding the risk of disease in
livestock, crop harvesting times, reproductive cycles, yield volumes and more.

END-TO-END SMART FARM MANAGEMENT

Bringing all of these IoT capabilities together is a farm productivity management system – a
single, cloud-based dashboard that collects, analyses and reports on all the farm’s IoT devices
and sensors. These systems offer remote farm monitoring capabilities and allow farmers to
streamline their operations.

CHAPTER 06.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SMART FARMING AND PRECISION

AGRICULTURE?

As technological innovations reshape the agricultural sector, the use of digital innovations has
caused the emergence of new concepts such as precision farming and smart farming. Despite
often being used interchangeably, these terms have a subtle difference in meaning.

WHAT IS PRECISION AGRICULTURE AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

The European Parliament’s report on precision agriculture defines precision agriculture as: “a
modern farming management concept using digital techniques to monitor and optimise
agricultural production processes”. The key factor here is optimisation.

WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE?

For example, instead of applying equal amounts of fertilisers over an entire field, precision
agriculture involves measuring soil variations within the fields and adapting the fertiliser strategy
accordingly—optimising the fertiliser usage, which saves costs and reduces environmental
impact.

WHAT IS SMART AGRICULTURE?

Unlike precision farming, the focus of smart farming is not on precise measurements between
variations in land and livestock conditions. Rather, smart agriculture focuses on accessing and
applying data.

So, in fact, digital data gleaned from smart farming can be used to inform precision
farming.
CHAPTER 07.

THE GLOBAL SMART FARMING MARKET

Business Insider Intelligence projects there to be nearly 12 million agricultural sensors installed
globally by 2023. Additionally, tech giant IBM estimates that the average farm can generate half
a million data points per day – helping farmers to improve yields and increase profits.

USD 11.9 BILLION

Global smart agriculture market revenue in 2019.

USD 25.3 BILLION

Global smart agriculture market revenue predicted by 2027.

11.4%

Compound annual growth (CAGR) over the forecast period.

CHAPTER 08.

SMART FARMING SOLUTIONS

Smarter Technologies’ simple, powerful technologies give farmers a detailed, full-scale view of
assets, equipment, and livestock. Get a clear picture of what’s happening on the ground with
constant data sent to connected devices 24/7.

MONITOR

TRACK

RECOVER

Highly-effective monitoring, tracking, and recovery of farm equipment/assets

Five kilometre tracking range

Notifications when anything is out of the norm

Continuous readings on temperature, gas, humidity, pH, smoke detection, water & fuel levels

GPS tracking collars for grazing livestock

Bolus for constant livestock temperature monitoring

SIMPLE, SMART DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR FARMS

At Smarter Technologies, our farming solutions are designed around the daily realities faced by
farmers in the security of their premises, assets, and livestock – and in achieving competitive
advantage through smart digital solutions. Simple, cost-effective, powerful smart technologies
are unlocking a new age of smart precision farming. Smarter Technologies’ smart agriculture
security and herd management solutions give you a unique, granular, whole-farm view.

A system of tags, sensors, pressure pads, gateways, and cutting- edge herd management tools
combine to create a digital ecosystem which can be remotely monitored in real-time. This
empowers immediate response to security breaches, asset and equipment tampering, livestock
status and location, and crop management.

IF IT CAN BE MONITORED, IT CAN BE MANAGED

WATER/FUEL LEVEL CATTLE BOLUS CATTLE COLLAR TEMPERATURE/HUMIDI

GATE SENSORS PERIMETER SENSORS CCTV MOTION SENSORS
TAILORED VISIBILITY DELIVERED TO YOUR PERSONAL SMART
FARMING DASHBOARD

Smarter Technologies’ agricultural solutions deliver reports to a user-friendly dashboard, which

you can access remotely from connected smart devices. This powers your response to alerts and
gives you a full-farm overview – from safety and security to livestock health – any time of
the day or night.