Ag-Internet of Things for Crop and Environment Monitoring: Present and Future

Crops are essential for human life because they provide food, animal feed, fuel, and raw materials for clothing and shelter. Crop yield has to be doubled in 2050 compared to 2009 in order to meet the demand of a growing population while increasing the food quality and reducing production inputs. Potential solutions to enhance global food security include closing crop yield gaps, reducing food waste, changing dietary habits, and reducing inefficiencies in resource use. Reducing inefficiencies in input resources (such as water and nitrogen) can be achieved by continuously monitoring crops, soil, and microclimate, and then properly controlling inputs without sacrificing the yield and quality of the crop. Internet of Things (IoT) becomes a key technology that enables continuous monitoring and control in the present scenario. There has been a boom in IoT application development in agriculture. Ag-IoT has evolved in the last two decades, particularly in the crop, soil, and microclimate monitoring. However, the application of Ag-IoT at the commercial scale is still at its early stage. A deeper and more holistic understanding of the existing IoT system development is important for various stakeholders to sketch the future landscape of Ag-IoT. Though Ag-IoT is proliferating in both crop and animal monitoring and management, IoT platforms for livestock production, as well as other sectors of agriculture (such as postharvest) are included. In the future, these technologies will allow improving productivity through the sustainable cultivation of food, as well as to take care of the environment, efficient use of water and the optimization of inputs and treatments. IoT technologies allow developing systems that support different agricultural processes. Some of these systems are remote monitoring systems, automated irrigation systems, frost protection systems, fertilization systems and decision support tools etc