- The market also is known as site specific crop management
- As population grows, so does precision agriculture market
- Cost, misinformation hinder market growth
Precision farming involves the use of software, drones and sensors to gather, process and analyze data, enabling real-time farm monitoring and information sharing. Examples include artificial intelligence, driverless tractors, drones, open data and vertical farming.
By 2022, the precision agriculture market will reach $ 7.9 billion globally, according to Beige Market Intelligence, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16%.
Grand View Research, however, forecasts more substantial growth, expecting the market to reach $43.4 billion by 2025.
Sensors are placed in fields to measure the humidity, nutrition level and temperature of the soil.
Satellite farming uses several technologies including Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensors to collect field data. The information is used to make decisions regarding crop planting, fertilizing and harvesting.
Precision agriculture is also called site specific crop management.
Growth Will Continue
Today the world’s population is 7.3 billion people. However, this is expected to climb to 8.2 billion by 2025 and 9.7 billion by 2050, according to Frost & Sullivan. This means, farms will need to produce 70% more food to keep up with population growth.
Farmers are increasingly adopting the technology because it improves crop quality and reduces waste while using limited resources and with minimum human effort.
Other factors contributing to growth include changing weather patterns because of climate change, urbanization, the increased use of smartphones and cloud technology, a decrease in sensor prices and the development of GIS and Global Navigation Satellite Systems technologies.
An emerging trend in the precision agriculture market is the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Lawmakers are in the process of establishing new regulations or updating existing regulations to address drone usage.
Market Challenges Abound
The market also is experiencing challenges. Restraints on market growth include the affordability of the technology and the large investment required.
Lack of awareness about the benefits of precision agriculture, especially in the developing countries, also hampers growth.
Another factor potentially hindering market growth is biometrics technology-based devices. The public fears these devices pose a risk to individual privacy, and can be stolen or misused.
Global Agriculture Market
- GPS generates the highest revenue. GIS is forecasted to have the highest CAGR by 2022.
- Half of smartphones are expected to be embedded with precision agriculture services.
- Increased adoption of technology will cause the variable rate technology to grow.
- Asia-Pacific is the region that will experience the most growth.