Precision Agriculture and Environmental Monitoring Technology
We looked into what farming, ag tech and similar companies were doing with our components, and created a resource page for anyone exploring tech to improve productivity, efficiency, safety, and resource utilization in agriculture.
In the last several years, technology to support agriculture has advanced at a rapid pace and is only expected to continue growing. Given the unique, remote and often expansive nature of ag tech, the tools needed can vary greatly. Whether you are implementing a DIY solution for long-range communication and data collection, or leading a company building complete systems for environmental monitoring, the options can be overwhelming.
Precision Agriculture Tools from SparkFun
Over the years, many farms and ag tech companies have used SparkFun parts for building DIY systems or prototypes. We took a look at how those parts were being used and put together a page that provides uses cases and consolidates parts used in the following areas:
Remote vs Close-Range Monitoring - check out options for wireless communication like LoRa®, LTE, Wifi and Bluetooth
Environmental Monitoring and Data Collection - explore sensors - temp, moisture, light, motion and more
Geolocation - take a look at how GPS/GNSS and RFID are impacting asset and information management
Automation - see how machine learning is helping make sense of data to improve efficiency
Explore Use Cases
FarmHand Automation
Developing a system for long-range communication to support autonomous micro-tractors
Key tech: automation, robotics, and data collection
Key services: custom development
“The biggest benefit this project has is that we can have secure data connections with open source sensors that already have Arduino libraries and drivers written. We knew the sensors we wanted to use, but as soon as you need to communicate over long distances in noisy environments things get complicated. The Qwiic Midpoint is going to solve a lot of that headache.” - Alex Jones, FarmHand Automation
2050 Robotics Lab
Using machine learning to spot aphids on sorghum and trigger a mobile robot to spray the affected area
Key tech: machine learning and optical inspection sensor
Haltwhistle Cheese
Using RFID to feed goats and track the herd’s health
Key tech: RFID and automation
“I may only have a couple minutes per day with each animal to perform a health assessment. Having some automated tools that are able to provide support throughout the day and automatically feed me data on the herd helps to ensure that I’m getting the bigger picture of herd health, and can act early on it.” - Cory Spencer, Haltwhistle Cheese
LandCare Research
Using RFID to track possums and save crops
Key tech: RFID and PIR motion sensor
PurpleAir
The SparkFun OpenLog brings data logging to support a real-time global air quality map - ideal for tracking microclimate data
Key tech: data logging
What tech have you found that works well for your ag tech needs? Let us know in the comments!
