There is a lot of buzz around the use of IoT today. Use cases are cropping up from nearly every vertical market. Growing up in a small Northwest Iowa farming community gives me a unique perspective. Could connecting things make farming easier? Could connectivity make farming more profitable? Could it provide a higher quality product?
I remember the bitter cold mornings, torrential summer rainstorms, and the 100 degree days that made that area of the country a one-of-a-kind place to live. Working the farm made me stop and think about the products we purchased and used, and how they would hold up against the rugged treatment and extreme changes in climate.
Technology advances in agriculture are a must, and IoT’s presence on the farm is growing, as more solutions are developed to help farmers feed the world. Lately, I have contemplated better ways to check to see if someone left a barn door open in a storm, if the gate at the pasture is open or closed, and whether the electric fence battery still has enough charge to keep the cows in the field. On top of that I have been looking at how things could be connected because not just any connectivity type will do in agricultural environments. There are several markets like ag that are ripe for good, solid equipment, that can work with numerous connectivity types, and yet built to take the rigors of the environments they are in. Like many things, it is the sum of all parts, and the durability of products and services that truly make something successful, and an IoT solution is no different. There are numerous companies out there that have also recognized this, and are well on their way to providing these durable tools to farmers across the country.
From experience, I can tell you that chipping ice from around an automatic livestock waterer at midnight to replace a light bulb that keeps the water float from freezing, is not my idea of fun. Or if you have ever crawled into a grain bin to check the feed or grain level, you know it could be a dusty environment in the middle of a 500-acre field and a long distance from any buildings or even power. Or had to drive over to check the temperature in a nursery for baby pigs or chicks. These situations create a large hurdle to overcome when deploying a connectivity type. Also, trying to monitor livestock location, health, condition, or gestation cycle while the animals are out in the pasture, which is always remote, is tough. All these are scenarios are great examples of things that can and should be monitored by IoT solutions, but when you add environmental extremes to the mix, issues are exacerbated and the need for solid hardware quickly becomes evident.
Manufacturers like MultiTech, for instance, have jumped into the market with products ready to use today. From livestock producers to heavy equipment manufacturers to irrigation systems suppliers, these manufacturers have very rugged solutions available to help with a wide variety of deployments. In addition to ruggedized hardware, these products work in collaboration with connectivity service providers, ensuring a complete solution. With outdoor base stations for LoRa WAN to devices created for 2G, 3G, and 4G-LTE (News - Alert) modems on top of top-notch hardware, these companies have created several ways for farmers to be more successful as they to prepare to feed the world for the next 100 years.