The emerging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are only one of the many challenges to our food supply that come from climate change, labor shortages, socio-political instability, and other market disturbances. Farmers are turning to one of agriculture’s most reliable resources, the resourcefulness of the human mind, to help them solve these difficulties.
Introduction
Increased use of automation, digital platforms, and other precision agricultural approaches from planting to harvesting are helping farmers keep food production on track in a sustainable manner.
After arriving in the late 1600s, rice quickly became a staple food in the World. However, technology has played an increasingly key role in rice production, making it the key to long-term viability and profit.
During the past 20 years, rice farmers have reduced water consumption by 53%, energy use by 38%, and land use by 35% while maintaining or improving food quality and quantity and growing their crops without using genetically modified organisms (GMOs). There is no way to achieve these massive improvements without the help of modern technology.
In recent decades, both the cost and availability of farm labor have grown. Farmers must combine high-yield crops, increased sustainability, and consistent profit margins with environmental issues (such as weather, pests, disease, soil, moisture, sunshine, etc.).
Automation and technology have to help farmers look beyond the box.
Improved farming Most rice growers now employ intermittent irrigation rather than continually flooding the land. Computers can control soil moisture levels to enhance rice crop yields and efficiency.
Many farmers now use laser guides to keep the level of their fields and to keep an eye on the moisture content. This allows for better-regulated farming methods, which in turn provide more uniform grain from season to season.
Farming increasingly uses drones. Satellite data has made monitoring and regulating the country’s water supply easier. Drones make rice grow faster and more efficiently.
Production methods Modern irrigation methods drain crops quickly. Modern technology makes harvesting the plant and removing the grain off the stalk easier in preparation for rice milling.
Technological advances and rising automation allow World’s rice farmers to provide 85% of the nation’s yearly rice consumption while retaining profitability, complying with regulations, and promoting sustainability.
Role of Technology From Planting to Harvest and Beyond
Planting
Everything begins with a seed. Wind formerly dispersed plants’ fruit. Or animal. Agriculture provided willing workers. Machines.
Automation can help maintain our food systems efficiently while reducing the need for labor-intensive manual tasks on farms.
#1. Seed-spraying drone
Drones now fly over fields. They might help preserve rice production, one of the World’s most important crops, in the future.
Rice farm drones do several tasks. First, they scatter seeds.
#2. Self-Planting
Self-driving planters and tractors are becoming increasingly common and inexpensive. GPS-guided machines plant with accuracy.
Modern planters measure seed depth and distance between seeds.
#3. Spraying
Science and technology have helped agriculture overcome difficulties. Accurate technology is improving rice crop protection and food loss prevention.
Precision sprayers preserve our food supply while using less water and chemicals.
#4. Self-rolling sprayers
Time-saving rolling sprayers are like drones. In dry fields, they let farmers get closer to their crops and the weed attacking them.
AI-driven technology allows sprayers to target weeds and avoid adjacent crops or soil.
#5. Self-driving sprayers
Drones may also safeguard crops. They cover more ground with more precision and stamina, using less water and pesticides.
Drones can reduce on-field labor and exposure in application areas.
#6. Monitoring
Sensors on the ground and in orbit monitor soil moisture, plant health, temperature, and humidity.
This saves farmers hours of labor. Reduced physical labor increases farm productivity, efficiency, and sustainability.
#7. Satellites
Currently, frying-pan-sized satellites circle the planet. Many send farmers to field reports.
These devices can identify plant threats before a farmer detects them.
#8. Sensors
Embedded sensors can offer farmers daily, year-round information on their land. They can detect temperature, moisture, and nutrients.
This info may be transmitted to a farmer’s tablet or phone.
#9. Harvesting
While rice harvesting has been automated for decades, picking delicate fruits and vegetables is new. Many regard this imaginative sector as the answer to sustainability and physical work.
Automation in rice will help feed 8.5 billion by 2030 and beyond.
#10. Pickers
Engineers and programmers spent years on this gadget. As agriculture’s need for robots grew, so did technology.
Lasers, cameras, robotic arms. Everything must align to pick a pepper.
Farming robots with rubber and steel immune systems replace risky physical labor.
#11. FieldView
Climate FieldView collects, processes, and understands data with AI.
Data helps farmers maximize inputs and preserve resources.
Agricultural advancements improve food sustainability. Land, water, energy, pesticides, time, and labor are limited. Calculation reduces the guesswork. Automation reduces waste. Growing technologies provide agricultural jobs.
Now is the moment to invest in solutions that can create a more sustainable food supply and system. Because solving some of humanity’s most pressing and continuing concerns requires large, bold, and creative ideas that benefit people and our planet.
Final Words
It’s a technological wonderland in the rice mill. Making use of both top gear for the milling process and high-tech devices, such as lasers and computers, for quality control and sorting. Robotic palletization and automated bagging have revolutionized the last high-priced step of manufacturing.
