Current Progress and Future Prospects of Agriculture Technology: Gateway to Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

The agricultural industry is getting more data-centric and requires precise, more advanced data and technologies than before, despite being familiar with agricultural processes. The agriculture industry is being advanced by various information and advanced communication technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). The rapid emergence of these advanced technologies has restructured almost all other industries, as well as advanced agriculture, which has shifted the industry from a statistical approach to a quantitative one. This radical change has shaken existing farming techniques and produced the latest prospects in a series of challenges. This comprehensive review article enlightens the potential of the IoT in the advancement of agriculture and the challenges faced when combining these advanced technologies with conventional agricultural systems. A brief analysis of these advanced technologies with sensors is presented in advanced agricultural applications. Numerous sensors that can be implemented for specific agricultural practices require best management practices (e.g., land preparation, irrigation systems, insect, and disease management). This review includes the integration of all suitable techniques, from sowing to harvesting, packaging, transportation, and advanced technologies available for farmers throughout the cropping system. Besides, this review article highlights the utilization of other tools such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for crop monitoring and other beneficiary measures, such as optimizing crop yields. In addition, advanced programs based on the IoT are also discussed. Finally, based on our comprehensive review, we identified advanced prospects regarding the IoT, which are essential tools for sustainable agriculture.

Potential Role of Technology Innovation in Transformation of Sustainable Food Systems: A Review

“…The population of the world is now more than 7.7 billion, and it is increasing at an annual rate of around 1.07%. Hence, by 2050, the world's population is projected to increase by more than 30% of the current population and reach 10 billion [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Given the projected growth of the population and income, as well as the headwinds of the climate, meeting the total demand for food in the future will place unprecedented pressure on limited water, fertile land, energy, and potential climate change.…”

Smart Control and Energy Efficiency in Irrigation Systems Using LoRaWAN

“…Additionally, Glória et al [22] developed a sustainable irrigation system that allows for improving natural resources, both water and energy, and reducing the economic cost through an IoT system with a network with batteries that has communication times of two hours. The monitoring of climatic parameters, soil moisture, vegetation health, plant diseases and crop yields while using IoT systems with wireless networks was developed by Khan et al [23]. Additionally, Mohammed et al [24] developed an IoT system for the control of date palms in arid regions using an underground irrigation system that remotely controlled climatic parameters and water volume in the soil.…”

Technology and Data Fusion Methods to Enhance Site-Specific Crop Monitoring

“…The role of crop monitoring is to improve the quality of production and to reduce the environmental impact by optimizing the management strategies. Similarly, agricultural technology efficiently monitors crops to classify crop type, plant status, growth, and growth parameters in real-time conditions [2]. In these conditions, technology and data fusion support a wide variety of methods for analyzing crop traits over time in spatially explicit and nondestructive ways [3].…”