- Rising global population increases demand
- Europe brings Internet of Things to agriculture
- Summit takes on agricultural production in Africa
By 2021, the connected agriculture market will reach $3.06 billion, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.9% from 2016, when the market was valued at $1.34 billion, and 2021.
Why such strong growth? A sharp rise in world population will mean an increase in global food production. In 2016, global population was 7.4 billion. The United Nations believes the global population in 2030 will expand to 8.5 billion.
In addition, soil quality has degraded because of pesticide and chemical fertilizers, reducing the number of crops that can be produced per acre. Technology will be needed to increase crop production.
Internet of Things
In Europe, a new program began Jan. 1 that will unite agriculture with the Internet of Things. Called the Internet of Food and Farm 2020, it is co-funded by the European Union and has a $321.9 million budget.
The project hopes to find solutions to problems unique to each of five sectors – fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy and arable farming.
“Together with our 70 partners we believe IoF2020 has the potential to bring a paradigm shift in the way food is produced in Europe, from the field to the plate, reinforcing European competitiveness and excellence in the area,” Project Coordinator George Beers told The Cattle Site.
The project will run for four years.
The Internet of Things also has come to Canadian farmers after the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission ruled telecommunication services should be accessible to all, even those living in rural locations. The commission will invest $750 million.
Farmers in Canada are increasingly using sensor networks and cameras to collect and analyze crop performance and weather conditions. The data can be accessed and stored using a smartphone app. However, these tasks need a large amount of bandwidth to work properly.
Canada has approximately 200,000 farms, but is losing farms at an average of 7%-9% annually as they consolidate and grow increasingly larger.
Improving African Agriculture
Meanwhile, the sixth annual AGCO Africa Summit was held in January. The summit, sponsored by agricultural equipment manufacturer and distributor Your Agricultural Company (AGCO), chose the future as this year’s theme.
Technology is providing farmers with more opportunities to organize and allow their voices be heard, AGCO said.
Discussions and presentations examined the various ways technology can be used to organize farmers and how it can be used to run farms like a business.
- Network management solution is the operations related to connected agriculture, primarily remote monitoring deployments. By 2021, Network management solution is forecasted to hold the largest market share and experience strong grow.
- Asia-Pacific is forecasted to grow at the largest CAGR. Several nations, including China and Japan, are promoting favorable government norms and connected agricultural practices.
- North America is forecasted to have the largest market share. Top connected agriculture providers in North America include Cisco Systems, IBM Corp., and PTC.
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