Smart Agriculture: Bridging the gap between traditional and technological agriculture

With the development of the digital economy, traditional agriculture is gradually transitioning into the realm of digital and smart agriculture. But what exactly is "smart agriculture"? Literally, smart agriculture aims to make the process of agricultural production, operation and management smarter, more efficient and precise. But in reality, the concept of smart agriculture has a broader and more specific definition and explanation.

Definition:

Smart agriculture fully leverages the achievements of modern information technology such as cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other modern information technologies to comprehensively upgrade and transform the entire agricultural industry chain.

At present, in a narrow sense, smart agriculture is the application of IoT technology to traditional agriculture, and the use of sensors and software to control agricultural production through cell phones or computer platforms to make agricultural production 'smarter'. In a broad sense, smart agriculture not only includes precise perception, control and decision-making management, but also includes agricultural informatization, agricultural e-commerce, agricultural industry interconnection, agricultural big data, agricultural product traceability, agricultural leisure tourism, agricultural information services, and rural smart governance.

Role:

Smart agriculture can effectively improve the agro-ecological environment, accurately calculate the production and planting environment of crops, and ensure that the agricultural production environment is precisely controlled within acceptable parameters. Smart agriculture can realize intelligent production and management through multi-level agricultural production data collection and analysis, integrating IoT sensing devices, thus significantly improving agricultural production and management efficiency. Intelligent agriculture can change the perspective of agricultural producers and consumers, and change the structure of the agricultural organization system. Agricultural e-commerce allows consumers to enjoy high-quality agricultural products and services without leaving home.

In short, smart agriculture affects the entire agricultural industry chain, expands the scale of agricultural production and operation, improves the efficiency of agricultural production and operation, strengthens the agricultural service system, and makes the process from field to table more efficient and refined.

Current application:

In Thailand, France, Spain and other countries, smart agriculture has entered the application stage, penetrating all aspects of agricultural production. Common applications include 

（Rika Sensor Smart Agriculture）

Intelligent water and fertilizer integration control system
The system utilizes sensors to collect soil information such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and automatically executes cyclic irrigation strategies according to crop growth characteristics. It can save more than 60% of irrigation water and reduce fertilizer usage by more than 50%, while also saving labor.

Large-scale field irrigation system
In large-scale field irrigation, soil moisture sensors and the LORA wireless communication network can set up different irrigation strategies according to the irrigation requirements of different crops. This enables customized, automated irrigation without the need for manual control.

Intelligent Constant Pressure Irrigation System
This system utilizes the IoT cloud platform to remotely adjust the speed of the pump motor to maintain constant water pressure, featuring high efficiency, energy saving and flexible configuration.

Meteorological Environment Monitoring System
The small weather station can monitor local carbon dioxide, barometric pressure, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, light intensity, air temperature, humidity, soil temperature and PM2.5/PM10 values, supporting centralized monitoring, automatic alarm and historical data management.

Greenhouse Intelligent Control System
In greenhouse planting management, IoT-based sensors can monitor temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, light intensity, soil nutrient content and so on. The system can automatically control ventilation, shading, irrigation, temperature regulation, lighting and pest control to promote healthy crop growth.

Development trend:

Intelligent agriculture promotes the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural industry chain through intelligent production, differentiated operation and comprehensive information services. It realizes the refinement, efficiency and greening of agriculture, ensures the safety of agricultural products, improves agricultural competitiveness and promotes the sustainable development of agriculture. Therefore, smart agriculture is an inevitable trend of global agricultural modernization, which requires the cultivation of social consensus, breakthroughs in key technologies, and effective planning and guidance in order to achieve the sustainable development of agriculture.