The importance of technology in agriculture

By Lauren O’Brien

The advancement of smartphones and technology in the past decade is causing the agriculture industry to thrive.

Machinery is replacing human workers at a steady rate and precision agriculture, which uses GPS guidance, is being used more often. Technology is allowing for more efficient production and higher quality products.
Adam Sharp is a precision marketing specialist at Delta Power Equipment. He grew up in a farming community, baling hay during the summers. As a teenager, Sharp worked with a team of 10 to 15 others for nine-hour days. After pursuing a career in broadcasting, Sharp began working as an agriculture marketing specialist six years ago.

“When I came back into agriculture, I found out the same guy is doing the same amount of acres,” said Sharp. “It is just him and his son running the operation.”

The rise of technology has allowed thousands of farmers, just like Sharp’s old boss, to become more efficient workers. The days of men loading wagons have been replaced with self-loaders. Now farmers can manage their farms almost without having to physically check them— all because of digital platforms.

One company, Farmers Edge, allows farmers to visualize data in real time through their smartphone or tablet. Some information Farmers Edge collects includes field health, satellite maps and soil conditions. Wendy Elias-Gagnon, communications manager for Farmers Edge, said their platform revolves around data collected directly from the grower’s farm.

“We believe the value of data is not about how much you are collecting, it’s about what you are collecting, how you are collecting it and how accurate it really is,” said Elias-Gagnon.

Farmers Edge was the first company to bring variable rate technology to farmers. This technology allows farmers to input when they plant their crops. Working with weather stations, data collection and satellite imagery, farmers can visualize when their crops will be ready to harvest.

“We’ve evolved into a precision agriculture company that transforms data into timely and accurate insights to help growers increase productivity, efficiency and profitability on the farm,” said Elias-Gagnon.

Tracey Congdon is one of the owners of Sun Parlor Honey, a third generation bee farm. She said extracting the honey is more automated than it used to be. When she first became involved in the business, it would take an assembly line of workers to extract and package the honey.

“You had to press a pedal to fill the jar. Someone was putting the jar underneath, another put the cap on and someone else labels it,” said Congdon.

A honey packing machine pours the exact weight of honey into jars, screws on lids and labels the honey for sale. The employees only need to place and remove the jars from the conveyor belt. This faster production process has allowed them to expand their business to several bee yards across southern Ontario.

Technology is in the process of eliminating the need for multiple services and offering farmers what they need most: swift and accurate production.