AgriTech is transforming farming and food systems at a pace faster than imagined before, and, at CropIn, we are in the habit of leading innovation. We continue to explore new, cutting-edge technologies and digitally empower diverse actors in the agroecosystem to achieve their respective objectives. Considering that CropIn is empowering clients in over 70 countries to maximise their per-acre value, it is critical for us to provide services that are consistent across geographies and deliver an excellent user experience. To achieve this, we recently adopted containerisation and a microservices-based approach to design our applications. So what does that mean?
Container technology, a term that was borrowed from the shipping industry for obvious reasons, has revolutionised the way applications are packaged to enable faster app deployment. It also made the servers more efficient than ever before and guaranteed that the software runs reliably, regardless of the operating system (OS). It eliminated several problems that systems faced earlier, such as the high amount of CPU overhead and resources required to build and run a virtual machine (VM), the limit on the number of applications that can be run efficiently, the incompatibility arising due to OS differences, storage requirements, and the time taken to boot the OS, among several others. Containerisation provided an effective way to handle these problems. …
Transforming the agricultural sector with digital technology that is accessible and beneficial to every farmer
Data-driven insights derived from ground and satellite-based intelligence enable a scientific method of cultivation that is beyond the vagaries of nature. But to make sustainable and scientific agriculture a success, it needs to touch the most important link in the chain — the humble farmer.
Agriculture technology has helped farmers in developed countries improve productivity and enhance the quality of their produce. However, its impact in developing countries is nascent because of the inherent challenges of such economies. Aspects such as fragmented landholdings and lack of farmer awareness make it difficult for smart agriculture to penetrate into such countries. …
The era of digital farming has brought to the fore copious volumes of agri-data that can be harnessed by the different stakeholders to make the agroecosystem more efficient, productive, and streamlined. Transactions that occur at each stage of the supply chain-be it capturing farm-level data using agtech, securing the required certifications for the commodity, or tracking its movement along the supply chain-generate millions of datasets every minute around the world. Moreover, smart farming devices such as farm management software, drones, sensors, and other IoT devices contribute immensely to the availability of real-time data. Ultimately, there is now a need for a mechanism that consumes all of this data from different sources and delivers information in a way that is logical, organised, and instant. …
Leverage data to accurately find and nurture the seeds that will feed
With complete visibility from the R&D phase to effective distribution and sales, digitisation gives you the insights you need to choose the best seed varieties suitable for cultivation.
By the year 2050, global agriculture will be tasked with producing 70% more food as per UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates, while only 5% of additional land will be available by then to feed the growing population. As a result, the agriculture industry has turned to technology in search of a workable solution. …
AI In Agriculture
Estimates suggest that approximately 2.5 billion people live in 500 million rural households across the globe, and they are primarily engaged in smallholder farming. A vast majority of this population resides in developing countries where access to agricultural finance is limited due to the inherent unpredictability associated with the sector. It isn’t surprising then that even though a large proportion of the population in such economies is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, financial sector institutions are not as forthcoming when it comes to lending to farmers. In the year 2014, the credit demand in the Philippines to produce essential commodities like rice, corn, sugarcane, and coconut was $11.3 billion, while the credit disbursed by banks amounted to only $3.4 billion. This is indicative of the huge gap that exists between the need and availability of credit in agriculture. Research indicates that the demand for food will increase by 70% in the next three decades, which will need at least $80 billion annual investments to meet this demand. …
Think of your favourite popcorn that you can’t seem to stop yourself from munching at the movies. Okay now go into that cereal killer mode and remind yourself of your daily energising cornflakes. Now just throwback to your moments of having corn on a cob. Drool much? Same here. Corn is definitely something that nobody really can say no to.
Often termed as the ‘Queen of Cereals’, the maize crop is one of the most in-demand crops in the world, with the global demand for the crop increasing by 45% in 2020. …
A Peek into the EU and Latin America Markets
What did a taller soy plant say to its bonsai soy plant buddy to make it feel better?
“You’re not really short, you’re just born soy in nature.”
Soy not sorry for the bad pun. This blog is all about that particular species of legume that has been a major source of protein for farm feed globally, which in turn becomes a direct source of protein for human consumption as well. …
Smart farming techniques are changing the way we cultivate and consume food. In farmlands across the world, food growers no longer look up at the sky for signs that show them the right time to sow, prepare, and cultivate the crops of the season. Rampant changes in temperature and weather predictability have made such traditional farming practices redundant.
Research reveals growth in global market size for smart agriculture from USD 9.58 billion in 2017 to USD 23.14 billion in 2022. While developed nations are at the forefront of the global smart farming market, recent years have witnessed the emergence of advanced technology in agriculture in developing markets such as India and Africa. Technology has helped farmers in these economies improve the quality of their produce through optimum seed selection, identifying the right time for planting and harvesting cycles, timely weather monitoring, and ongoing tracking of crop health throughout the cultivation cycle. …
Drive a Winning Digital Strategy
Let real-time ground-level intelligence be the guide that maps agrochemicals with the right crop and the right location/farms.
Powered by historical ground and weather data from all areas under cultivation, digitisation makes higher productivity a reality for agribusinesses globally through the targeted/localised application of agrochemicals.
Agrochemicals and other agricultural inputs are an integral part of a successful cultivation cycle. Be it protecting crops from harmful pests and diseases, ensuring the health of the crop, or adding necessary nutrients to the soil-the role of agrochemicals is crucial irrespective of the type of crop or the region under cultivation. However, the right utilisation of agrochemicals depends on understanding which areas would benefit most from what kind of input. …
Our food systems are continually evolving, more now than ever, to feed a growing population. However, several challenges face the agroecosystem’s attempts to produce enough to meet the global demand for nutritious food, such as deficient crop yields, broken supply chains, and excessive food wastage, among many others. Overcoming these hurdles requires the collaboration of all stakeholders, woven together with transformative technology solutions to ensure a sustainable, food-secure future. Against this background, traceability systems are being recognised by agri-food producers as one such technology solution that provides the foundation to identify and address food system challenges.
Traceability systems are supply chains and giving rise to new business models globally. They provide significant benefits to the various stakeholders in the supply chain. For producers, specifically, these benefits could be in the context of operational efficiencies, better risk mitigation, improved access to global markets, and even contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Let us take a closer look at the top six benefits for agri-food producers. …
