Across the agriculture sector, many farm operations are adopting digital technology tools to help improve productivity and profitability. A recent report, Digital Applications for Agricultural Productivity in BC published under the federal government’s Digital Technology Adoption Pilot Program (DTAPP) outlined technology options that are increasing productivity and improving competitiveness of the agricultural sector for BC farmers and other industry partners.
The BC project, led by Wavefront of Vancouver, BC looked at various segments of agriculture including dairy, greenhouse, berries, cattle and field vegetables. Wavefront is Canada’s Centre of Excellence for Wireless Commercialization and Research, accelerating the growth and success of wireless companies in Canada by connecting them with critical resources, partners and opportunities, to drive economic and social benefits for Canada.
“As part of DTAPP, one of the questions that comes up from government is what drives productivity in various industries, including agriculture,” explains Bryan Price, Project Consultant. “This project was initiated by BC to look at what digital technologies were practical and effective in the field. However, we expanded the study to look across Canada, as many digital technologies are more applicable to larger open landscapes outside of BC. Much of BC geography is peaks and valleys and smaller expanses of land.”
The study results showed that although all segments of the agricultural industry have adopted relevant technologies, the penetration of the technologies varies by segment. Most greenhouse operations rely on digital climate control technology and other high tech sensors for increasing productivity. In the dairy and cattle industries, RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are used for traceability and tracking activities, reproductive timing and herd health, and provide time savings for the farmer. Robotic milking machines for dairy also present productivity improvement opportunities for larger operations. Although BC has one of the largest blueberry industries in the world, for now few digital technologies are used in production.
“One of the areas where digital technologies and precision agriculture applications can greatly improve productivity is for field crops, including vegetables, potatoes, grains and forages,” explains Price. “Using digital technologies for management of crop applications such as nutrient applications or spraying can result in substantial savings and reduce impacts to the environment. For example, using GPS, variable control and precision agriculture applications improves accuracy, reduces overlap, reduces fuel and input usage and maximizes efficiency. Regardless of farm size, the savings just keep going up and impacts to the environment reduced.”
The study showed that digital technologies were used for many cropping activities, including automated planting and plowing assisted by GPS, tractor auto-steer, crop input applications and harvest. Technologies such as tractor auto-pilot reduce tractor costs, driver fatigue and nutrient application costs. Using digital technologies and related computer management software programs also makes it easier for farmers to track inputs and other activities, and share their information with crop advisors and external consultants. Other technologies such as hand held sampling devices can collect and share other information related to pests, soils, nutrients and crop status. Various apps are also becoming available for smart phones, tablets and other hand held technology devices.
“Many companies are now pushing software ‘up into the cloud’, so farmers no longer have to manage it on their own computers,” adds Price. “Farmers need access to a web browser, a password and can manage and update their information through the supplier’s server, which means fewer problems on individual computers. It also makes it easier for farmers to share their information quickly with crop consultants or agronomists no matter where they are located. One challenge for the mostly rural farm locations is having good access to broadband connectivity, whether wireless or wireline.”
Overall, the report showed that digital technologies can improve productivity for many segments of agriculture and any farm can benefit. “Farm size is a critical variable in implementing new technologies,” says Price. “Farmer estimates of farm input savings in BC were between 5-10% annually. Overall, the return on investment (ROI) of precision agriculture varies by type of terrain, farm size and market price of harvest. For a typical farm size of 1000 to 2000 acres adopting wireless precision agriculture, the ROIs ranged between one and two years. As farmers upgrade equipment and adopt best practices, adding digital technology tools can enable productivity gains and provide a good ROI on the farm.”
“Digital technologies can help improve productivity and efficiency on many farm operations,” says Bryan Price. “Using these technologies helps farmers realize savings by reducing labor requirements, fuel and other inputs, which is also better for the land overall and better for the pocketbook.”
Contact:
Bryan Price
Ph: (778) 331-7500
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
http://www.wavefrontac.com
http://www.wavefrontac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Driving-Productivity-in-Agriculture-FINAL.pdf
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/irap/dtapp/index.html