How Big Data Can Support Your Harvest Season
Big data and tech advances can pave the way for a smooth harvest
Agriculture is one of the longest-standing industries; responsible for most of the world’s food in the face of climate change, population growth, and decreasing land suitable for crops, it’s not an easy task. While often thought of as intuitive or generational knowledge passed down through generations, ag science has grown into a vast field of study implementing the latest developments in science and technology. While there’s nothing wrong with learning family traditions, you could be missing out on ways to improve your yield, soil health, and forecasting if you aren't exploring advancements in agriculture technology. Whether you want to streamline your paperwork with digital forms or implement artificial intelligence to predict your harvest yield, big data and analytics can support every grower.
Does Big Data Apply to Agriculture?
The idea of big data applies across all industries, and to everyone. Big data, as you might imagine, is big. It encompasses everything from the DNA composition of a single plant to every historical weather pattern tracked around the world, and that doesn’t even begin to cover it all. For agriculturalists, big data has existed for centuries, and though we’re much better at tracking and recording it all now, there is a lot of movement to expand this effort. In 2016 the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) launched their Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools Initiative to create an easily accessible hub for the entire agricultural community.
“The world’s population is projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100.”
Farmers, ranchers, and growers have a tough challenge ahead of them: the world’s population is projected to be 9.8 billion by 2050, but we only have depleting resources available to feed everyone. Between climate change, natural erosion, pollution, and more space needed to house all these people, each year we only see declining amounts of usable land for growing food. Some researchers even estimate that “nearly 33% of the world’s adequate or high-quality food-producing land has been lost at a rate that far outstrips the pace of natural processes to replace diminished soil.” In the face of this challenge, it’s up to agricultural scientists to find more efficient ways to produce more food with fewer inputs and land. This is where big data can be most beneficial, by providing insights, analytics, and historical data to better predict and understand trending changes in how we grow our food.
How Can Growers Use Big Data?
Big data is categorized into multiple categories; some of it is privately owned by individuals or businesses from their own transactions and observations, while some of it is available to the public through research and government institutions. The publicly available data is hugely beneficial to many growers, but the data you capture yourself is more acclimated to your exact crops and processes. In other words, if you’re not capturing your own data to analyze, now is the best time to start.
“In 2018 alone, big data adoption increased to 59% from 17% in 2015.”
Starting with Seeds
While you likely have your set seeds that you prefer to work with, you know their temperament, general yield, and the best inputs to help them reach their full potential, it’s important not to get too dependent on any specific variety. If you haven’t looked into the viability of other seeds in your area, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. There are organizations committed to tracking seed yield across climates, temperatures, and even soil conditions, to help you explore the best options for your season. Combine this with your own tracking, and you’ll be able to customize your planting season for the best harvests possible. Look into research facilities, even at a local ag-focused university, and see what data has already been collected to learn as much as you can about your crop potential.
Accurate Forecasting for Crop Yields
It’s no secret that the key to a successful season is a high yield during harvest, ideally with minimal impact from insect activity, diseases, or inclement weather. But how can you improve your crop yield with data alone? Historical data gathered from scientists and government organizations can give incredible insights into future patterns. Whether that’s identifying key weather patterns, better input ratios to minimize water, fertilizer, and pesticide inputs, or even timing your harvest perfectly, big data details can have a huge impact on your yield. Options on this front are almost limitless and expanding every day. From artificial intelligence platforms that collect soil data for better input monitoring, to satellite and drone monitoring for a live view of your crops through the entire growing season, new technologies are making big data accessible to every grower.
“Global spending on smart, connected agricultural technologies and systems, including AI and machine learning, is projected to triple in revenue by 2025.”
Keep Operations Running Smoothly
As if growers didn’t have enough to worry about, the ag industry has a lot of moving parts. There are farm hands to tend the crops, ag scientists to thoughtfully analyze soil and crop conditions, and engineers to keep machines running smoothly—not to mention the influx of staff and operations during harvest season. Keeping track of all the costs of your business, from labor to purchases to the land you’re cultivating, is all valuable data. It can not only help you make better decisions next year, but it can also accurately predict the cost of growing your business. Switching to digital solutions like online accounting software or mobile signature forms can streamline your day-to-day operations. Many of these platforms integrate to make the office workload even lighter, and the best ones will eliminate manual data entry while still giving you the insights you need.
There’s almost no limit to the ways big data can help benefit growers, in addition to the list above. This includes things like crop prices, weather patterns, machinery maintenance, and more. You can also view all the information above, and additional resources, from the USDA’s Open Data Catalog. Feeding the world is a difficult job, it’s time to explore big data to make sure you have all the resources you need to do it.
About GoFormz
Whether your farm needs a digital form for accurate data collection, or your health clinic needs medical history forms, and everything in between, GoFormz has your solution. With a completely flexible, no-code-required form builder and proprietary technology to digitize an exact replica of your existing paper forms, there’s no challenge GoFormz can’t conquer. Accelerate your harvest season with fast, easy, digital data collection.
