What is a Smart Farm?

The term smart farm refers to the usage of technologies like Internet of Things, sensors, location systems, robots, and artificial intelligence on your farm. The ultimate goal is increasing the quality and quantity of crops while reducing the water, land, and fertilisers needed and optimising the human labour used.

Example technologies used in smart agriculture are:

–          Precision irrigation and precise plant nutrition

–          Climate management and control in greenhouses

–          Sensors – for the soil, water, light, moisture, for temperature management

–          Software platforms

–          Location systems – GPS, satellite, etc.

–          Communication systems – based on mobile connection, LoraWan, etc.

–          Robots

–          Analytics and optimisation platforms

The connection between all these technologies is the Internet of Things – this is a mechanism for connectivity between sensors and machines, resulting in a complex system that manages your farm based on data received. Thanks to this system, farmers can monitor the processes on their farms and take strategic decisions remotely – from their tablet, phone, or other mobile device – without being on the open fields, in their greenhouse, orchard, vineyard, etc.

What are the processes taking place on a farm using smart farm technology?

1.      Data collection

The sensors installed at all critical places in the farm gather and transmit data about the Air – temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels. Water – nutrient balance, PH & EC levels. Tracking of the sun and intensity of the sun rays

2.      Diagnostics

The data collected is analysed by the system and conclusions are made regarding the status of the object or process monitored. Potential problems get identified.

3.      Decision making

Based on the problems identified in the previous steps, the software platform and/or a human managing the platform decides on actions that need to be taken.

4.      Actions

The actions identified in the previous step are performed. A new measurement on the water, air, moisture, etc is performed by the sensors and the whole cycle starts again.

The result from this automated smart farming process is – high precision and 24/7 control, eventually leading to considerable savings in all key resources used – water, energy, fertilizers, time spent by strategic people, time spent by lower-qualification human

The Problem

Our market opportunity lies in addressing the critical issues facing contemporary agriculture and food production. At the root of these issues is a lack of fresh, healthy produce for consumers. There has become an inconsistency in quality produce as crops become riddled with pests and diseases leading to the unregulated use of pesticides and herbicides that can harm human health. Furthermore, unstable conditions such as rain, drought, or insects can often cause poor-quality produce to reach supermarket shelves, thus reducing consumer confidence in many regional produce items. Not to mention the price of fruit and vegetables skyrocket on the drought and flood seasons.

Extreme weather conditions can negatively affect crop yield as crops are exceedingly sensitive to decreased precipitation, high temperatures (e.g., fires), and flooding. As a result, approximately 30% of produce is wasted before it even departs the farm. There is also roughly 40% of water wastage that comes with traditional farming. This all accounts for a significant amount of money lost in the process that should not be ignored.

The price of fruit and veg has skyrocketed, as farmers are having to travel further afield to find quality land and worldwide shortages due to covid continue to exacerbate this issue. Most farming land that was used 30-50 years ago have been turned into housing developments. Farmers are thus being pushed further and further out west, away from the rich fertile land into dry baren land. This means more water and fertiliser and significantly increased logistical costs. The problem is compounded by many of the available jobs being low-paid and insecure. This has created a situation where most people cannot afford high-quality food, thus leading to adverse effects on people’s health. Consumers are tired of paying high prices for low-quality produce therefore, this is where Earth Fix comes in.

The Solution

Earth fix Australia will be implementing a sustainable solution that utilises modern technology to address the above issues. Protected horticulture is the process of growing crops under controlled conditions. Through utilising advances in farming techniques, we can attain optimal productivity by increasing yields and ameliorating quality. Smart farming is free of the use of pesticides and herbicides, and it instead produces an all-natural plant bacteria thus ensuring a high production of consistently healthy produce. The Smart Farming solution will be used to grow firstly leafy greens (bok choy, lettuce) then high-quality strawberries and more.

Moreover, being underneath a controlled temperature, greenhouse environment circumvents most of the weather and climate hazards thus enabling us the opportunity to produce a consistent product and price all year round (Hassan, 2017). Produce will remain the same size, weight, and taste.

Additionally, this means no more seasonal jobs. A multitude of full-time jobs will become available away from the often-extreme outside temperatures and rainy conditions. Furthermore, this opens an opportunity for elderly and/or the impaired (even wheelchair bound) looking to continue or start working a comfortable, easy going job with no hard labour involved.

This solution utilises 95-98% of produce with the remaining percentage being able to be reused into juices, smoothies, dried fruit etc. So, ultimately 0% wastage. Not to mention the highly sustainable use of land and water relative to traditional farming. Protected horticulture utilises 95% less water and 92 – 95% less land compared to traditional production methods to yield over 75x the amount over a year period. Water and land – nature’s gifts to mankind are not free and unlimited forever thus our solution is the future.

Furthermore, there is an extremely minimal environmental impact including a sizeable reduction of land footprint as there is no need for fertile land to grow produce. This protects vital forests and preserves agricultural land. A smart farm can ultimately be placed anywhere from a carpark to inside a grocery store. This also saves ample time and costs involved with logistics as it can be put close to anywhere that it is needed.