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This article was first published in the September 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Farmers, add a tool to your heavy machinery - your smartphone. From soil-monitoring sensors to sheep-herding drones, the internet of things has reached the countryside. But so have the bots, and automation is requiring rather fewer humans. "Younger generations don't want to be farmers," says Saverio Romeo, principal analyst at Bath-based Beecham Research and co-author of the report "Towards Smart Farming: Agriculture Embracing the IoT Vision". "Robotics enables agricultural systems where you don't need as much labour, and the technology allows you to optimise the land you have through data." Data is gathered through sources ranging from weather stations to infrared cameras. This data allows farmers to refine the amount of feed their livestock require, or remotely control their connected tractors and combine harvesters. "We are moving towards more and more autonomous systems," says Romeo, "so the farmer in the vehicle is almost not needed." Here's the cream of the current agricultural crop.
Flying farmer
SenseFly (a Parrot company) makes the eBee Ag - a UAV that flies pre-programmed routes over crops. Data is transmitted live for analysis.
Multispectral cameras
Wheat growers at Washington State University are analysing the phenotypes of crops using 3D, infrared and thermal imaging cameras.
Aerial sheepdogs
Paul Brennan of SkyFly Photography used one of his UAVs to replace his brother's sheepdog in March 2015.
Ovulation alerts
Inseminating cattle relies on tight timing; sensors from Swiss company Anemon send an SMS when cows are in heat.
Connected vehicles
John Deere's JDLink connects tractors to farmers and dealers, so inspections and maintenance can be closely monitored.
Orange picker
Energid is developing a pneumatic orange-picking robot that uses six cameras to locate and carefully harvest the ripe fruit.
Fake fish
Scientists at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory have built a sensor-filled "fish" that can check how factors, such as hydropower facilities, impact real fish.
Nutritional lights
Philips's City Farming LED lights can be used for indoor farming. It claims its custom "light recipes" optimise crop growth.
Head trimmer
Lettuce must be thinned as it grows, so the heads don't crowd each other. Usually done by hand, Blue River Tech's robot can do this for you.
Milking robots
Insentec's fully automated Galaxy Astrea 20.20 walk-in milking machine keeps the cows in open space to reduce stress.
Super greens
Israeli startup Green Onyx grows Khai-Nam -- a vegetable nutritionally comparable to a mix of kale, broccoli and spinach.
Bee trackers
To study bee behaviour, Mark O'Neill of UK firm Tumbling Dice has built tiny trackers that he's glueing to the backs of bees in Kew Gardens.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
