5G technology will help to revolutionize agriculture at a critical time as the world’s famers contend with soaring global demand. Fortunately, the convergence of the agriculture industry with next-generation wireless technology will help produce more food both efficiently and sustainably.
Aided by technological advances, farmers are already developing ways to maximize yields and reduce losses. But 5G will take smart agriculture to a whole new level. With its ability to handle heavier data traffic from the ever-growing population of connected devices and machines, to its delivery of significantly faster speeds and responsiveness, 5G will help enable the broader use of wireless sensors, drones, and other digital analytics to provide farmers with data on fertilization levels, health conditions, and overall crop development.
SlantRange, an intelligent drone sensing and analytics company, works with local farmers to examine new crop development metrics to optimize management practices. This San Diego, CA-based company is showing us how to harvest data in the service of harvesting crops in new, innovative ways that are enabling new insights.
With 5G technology, advanced devices will enable farmers to gather and sort through an ever-larger trove of information, which will help farmers respond quickly to changing crop conditions. This influx of information will also foster improved research and breeding applications, and lead to more accurate forecasting. In short, 5G technologies will be vital to the future success of precision farming.
Just ask Mike Ritter, the CEO and Co-Founder of SlantRange. In a new video for Faces of 5G, he says, “Wireless connectivity is a critical enabling piece of everything we do,” and goes on to add, “The ability to either communicate or move data from the field to where a decision needs to be made is going to be hugely enabled by higher speed connectivity, particularly 5G.”
Modern approaches to farming, like what we’re seeing with SlantRange, illustrate how the Internet of Things (IoT) has benefits that go beyond connecting devices in real time for convenience, travel, and entertainment. The company is designing their systems to distribute processing into the field of agriculture. These systems and technologies give farmers the tools and data they need to make informed decisions about their crops, land use, pest control, and irrigation. The impact of 5G on agriculture and food production stands to be significant and without these next-generation tools, American farmers will be limited in their ability to shape the future farming practices the world needs.
For some 10,000 years, humans cultivated crops relying on accumulated wisdom about the interaction of climate, soil, water, and sunlight. It worked fairly well to meet the needs of families and small communities. Then came advances in science, machinery, and transportation a little more than a century ago that transformed agriculture into a pursuit that was able to feed growing multitudes around the world.
Today, we are on the cusp of another historic transformation. 5G technology will be an essential part of the agriculture industry’s next chapter.
Check out SlantRange’s video for Faces of 5G and click here to learn more about the company.
