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Imagine-Station's Virtual Farming: The Future of Agriculture?

Imagine running a fully automated farm in the comfort of your own home. With the increasing population in urban areas and automation slowly stealing people's jobs, we need to find a win-win solution. Using automation to control highly sophisticated processes like agriculture is definitely still far ahead but we are getting there. Agriculture is a staple source of survival of any civilization but due to increased urbanization, younger people started moving toward cities pursuing jobs much farther than farming. And that is not a good thing.



With recent advances in technology including faster wireless connection, smarter computers, and a much better human-machine interface, I believe we are heading towards a new era of automated tasks that includes farming. Using robotics to plant, maintain, and harvest produce sounds complicated but with the help of artificial intelligence to identify plant growth stages and productivity, it can be easier to optimize any agricultural process. Remote-controlled farming equipment, artificial intelligence, and high-speed connectivity like 5G are going to kick-start this advancement. 


Every year, global consumption of food increases and poverty becomes worse. Our demand for food escalates but with every new development, land availability for farming decreases. We need to look at solutions that are long-term and sustainable. We need to produce more food with less space. So what is this virtual farming that I speak of? Here's what I imagine.



  • Automated. Fully online automated farming controlled by people from literally anywhere. This system still needs people for oversight, maintenance, and planning.

  • Efficient. Powered by solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal to keep the farm running 24/7.

  • Productive. High productivity in a smaller area by using a vertical farming strategy (by hydroponics, aquaponics, etc.) within an urban environment.

  • Robotics. The automated processes are all robotics with artificial intelligence handling repetitive tasks, analytics, and security.

  • Sustainable. Almost everything on the farm has a role and contributes to the whole ecosystem, even power generation. It is built on a diversified model.


It is obvious that in order to progress, these things have to materialize. We are going that way anyway. Technology is growing so fast that almost all other industries have to adapt in order to stay competitive. Agriculture is definitely not an exemption. But what are the technologies we have right now that will get us on track for this scenario?


  • Electric vehicles for delivery. These vehicles can be used within the farm and for delivery of goods within a city or long distances within a country/continent.

  • Farming equipment using artificial intelligence and advanced automation (e.i. John Deere 8RX) 



  • Solar power and other renewable energy with higher output use less space. (Gravity, Windmill, Geothermal)

  • 5G connectivity. High-speed connectivity is very much what drives this technology.

  • Artificial intelligence (image recognition, advanced analytics, and machine learning).

  • The farm-to-table concept using drone delivery. (more visible in the more advanced economies for now)

  • Plant-based meat substitutes like Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger.


Gradual improvement of these current technologies along with proper implementation will accelerate this automated farming methodology. This is not just a technology but a whole industry upgrade utilizing advanced technologies. So let us now discuss the pros and cons as usual.


Advantages

  • Online. People can work from home controlling farm equipment. Should be more fun right?

  • Profitable. A fully automated farm that uses machine learning to produce more efficiently with less overhead is definitely advantageous and profitable.

  • Energy. The use of renewable energy around the farm is good for the environment and will save a lot of money in the long run.

  • Production. Being able to produce more in less space and less overhead.

  • Disruptive. A revolutionary method that uses disruptive technologies like this is the future of agriculture.



Disadvantages

  • Expensive. Setting up and starting this kind of business will be very expensive at first.

  • Sophisticated. Without technical know-how, maintaining a farm like this is very difficult. This also includes maintenance and marketing.

  • Unsafe. An automated system like farming with lots of moving equipment can become a problem if it involves the safety of people and farm animals. 

  • Dependency. The farm depends on high-speed connectivity between computers and machines and if this is disconnected due to technical errors, internet service disruption, or long-distance delays, then the whole operation might have to stop.


I am definitely excited to hear more news regarding virtual farming. And not just in video games but in actual producing farms. I would like to see more of this idea materialize and find some truly amazing real-life examples. I will come back to this later when I can finally explore more about a fully functioning automated farm that is real and not just coming from my imagination. 


Keep imagining what's possible and work towards a goal one step at a time. Cheers.

Note: All images are from Pixabay.com
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Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada

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