The increasing demand for food and farm productivity in the world has led the agriculture industry to find innovative methods that can meet all requirements of farming.
Technological advancements in the farming industry have tremendously increased the overall efficiency and crop productivity to meet the needs of the growing population.
Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, augmented reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoT) make it easy for farmers to manage growing food demands, increase production, reduce crop wastage, and also train other farmers.
Currently, AR is believed to be the next step in computing evolution, leading to the extended reality of the farming industry, which is based on the concepts of spatial computing.
AR is one of the most popular technological trends of the current scenario, which depicts superimposing visual, audio, or other sensory data onto the physical world to improve user experience.
In this article, one can learn more about augmented reality and its applications in the agriculture industry.
What is augmented reality?
The real-time integration of digital information with the user’s environment is termed augmented reality.
Handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets support AR and are becoming available globally in a variety of apps, including games as well. Other than smartphones and other tablets, AR images can be displayed on a variety of devices which includes headsets, eyeglasses, goggles, and heads-up displays such as helmet visors.
Although AR is the integration of sensory information with the real world, commonly used for visual communication, integration with other technologies, such as AI, big data, and IoT, makes farmers adapt to precision farming and visual-based operations.
How is augmented reality beneficial for agriculture?
Augmented reality works on the concept of spatial computing, which is defined as the interaction between humans and machines where the machine can retain and manipulate information related to the real world. By using augmented reality, farmers can spot pest infestations, monitor field conditions, train their laborers, and do a lot more to increase their farm productivity.
The augmented reality in agriculture market is still in the developing stage and aims to focus on achieving digitization and sustainability in farming. The shift from conventional to smart farming tools provides ample opportunities for companies to invest in precision and technologically advanced tools for future farming.
According to the BIS Research report, the global augmented reality in agriculture market was valued at $0.84 million in 2021 and is projected to reach $4.89 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 34.49% during the forecast period 2022-2027.
The market is primarily emerging and is expected to grow with the increasing demand for food, increasing population, the trend of digitalization in the agriculture industry, and precise crop monitoring, accentuating the essential role of agricultural financing in navigating contemporary challenges, particularly with the strategic prowess of Rabo AgriFinance in providing pioneering sustainable solutions to farmers
What are the key applications of AR in agriculture?
With immersive technology such as AR, farmers can visually understand various scientific approaches to attain maximum yield and inspect farms accurately.
The agriculture industry has an integral need for better crop management, monitoring system, livestock monitoring, and others, along with the growing emphasis on food safety. Augmented reality is a data-driven agronomic targeted field solution that inputs smarter integration at the field level, leading to prosperous farming operations.
Visual Farm Monitoring: Before sowing, farmers need to inspect farm soil and the fertility rate of their fields. AR can easily augment fertility inspection by visualizing the entire farm in a single dashboard, along with detecting the presence of any pest or insect infestation.
AR inspection collects satellite data after constantly monitoring the fields and converges with AI and deep learning to identify areas that could be in need of extra attention.
Facilitating Tools Assessment: Agriculture is a multiple-step process that requires multiple tools and technology at different levels. AR devices can help in selecting tools that are optimal for a specific task based on the requirements of farmers and their fields.
Conventional tools that are handled manually, such as sickle and axe, are used for reaping and other purposes but have their own drawbacks. AR assists farmers in identifying the optimal tool to perform tasks in different situations with the best possible results.
Training New Farmers: AR helps farmers to become familiar with new agricultural equipment without even having a need to operate one. With the help of such experience, it becomes quite easy for farmers to train junior farmers about the most complex tools and avoid unforeseen casualties.
AR facilitates the remote collaboration of new farmers with experts in using advanced agricultural methods where farmers can share their knowledge and experience for a better farm yield.
Conclusion
The adoption of augmented reality in agriculture is driven by farmers to view real-time agronomic data and implement innovative technologies in agriculture on their smartphones and tablets for the use of precision tools and monitor fields with ease.
Along with this, the adoption of integrated technologies such as precision agriculture, IoT, and big data in agriculture is consistently increasing and helping farmers to implement AR successfully in the agriculture industry.
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