Protect our table, Agritech

 

Due to severe climate change, conflicts between countries, and declining crop yields, the world's food crisis is getting worse and worse. A situation is coming where we can no longer keep our tables on traditional farming methods. In this issue, from this perspectives we’re going to look at ‘Agritech’, which will achieve agricultural innovation as a cutting-edge IT technology.

clipartkorea.co.kr

‘Agritech’ farming with AI and big data instead of a shovel,

Agritech, as a combination of Agriculture and Technology, refers to activities that agriculture meets cutting-edge IT technologies such as AI big data analysis to develop a series of technologies for agricultural innovation, from cultivation to production, distribution, and management. ‘Smart Farm’, which is familiar to us as a major technology leading Agri-Tech, literally refers to an intelligent agricultural system. Using smart farm technologies like IoT, big data, and AI, it can increase the efficiency and convenience of the entire process including cultivation, production, and distribution of crops.

Check the health of crops with deep learning,

The success of farming depends on the health of the crops grown. In particular, it is difficult for people to recognize the damages by diseases and pests of crops with the naked eye because the size and type are different. A Korean company has developed a system that can quickly identify the damages and accurately check health conditions through deep learning analysis.

wipsglobal.com/ KR10-2478723 B1
'Method and system for managing crops pets'

This technology monitors the real-time health status of crops based on the crop images input into the integrated system, analyzes the type and severity of damage, and predicts the spread of damages to neighbor farms when crops are affected by pests to help prevent in advance.

 From plant cultivation to barn management with IoT,

Recently, ‘indoor plant cultivator’ that can easily grow plants at home have been released and getting popular. It has been difficult to create a cultivation environment that reflects each variety and growth process of plants and to control the light source module. Korea's SK magic has developed a light source module and plant cultivation system for smart growers using IoT (Internet of Things) to improve this point.

wipsglobal.com/ KR10-2475601 B1
'Light source module for smart plant cultivation device,
smart plant cultivation device and smart plant cultivation system using internet-of-things 

In this technology, a light source module that automatically reflects and controls changes in natural light over time is mounted on a plant cultivator to set the intensity of illumination transmitted to each plant seed. Also the growth process of the plant being cultivated can also be transmitted to the user's mobile phone connected to the plant cultivator through IoT.

IoT can also help with disinfection and sterilization systems for livestock that are susceptible to viral infections. This technology can monitor the sensor measurement values of humidity, temperature, and odor from the inside video of the barn through the user's smartphone connected to the system using IoT, and it can remotely control the barn UV sterilization disinfection device.

wipsglobal.com/ KR10-2357974 B1
'System for sterilization and disinfection and infection prevention in pen using IoT
and method thereof'

Agricultural equipment is also in the era of self-driving,

Autonomous driving technology is no longer limited to the automotive industry. Now, we can meet tractors and robots that work on their own instead of people on farms and farmlands. The autonomous tractors and robots in rural areas where population aging and labor shortages are accelerating is welcome news like rain in a drought. John Deere, a global agricultural machinery & tractor manufacturing company, recently unveiled the fully autonomous tractor ‘8R’. It’s been reported that all autonomous driving is possible without driver, from sowing seeds to picking up the ground and driving.

Korean companies are also in the midst of developing autonomous tractors. TYM, a Korean agricultural machinery company, has developed autonomous tractor technology that can autonomously create a path and follow without driver intervention. It is said that the commercialization of autonomous tractors is already ahead and plans to be released soon.

wipsglobal.com/ KR10-1339750 B1
'Autonomous Tracktor'

Autonomous driving technology is also applied to agricultural robots. This technology is a self-driving system mounted on an eco-friendly weeding robot that automatically moves to the location where weeding is needed through camera sensors and GPS to perform weeding.

wipsglobal.com/ KR10-2389379 B1
'Autonomous driving system of weed removal robot'

Agritech, a protector for human food,

Now that the world is experiencing a serious food crisis, the problem of food for us and the next generation has already become a common problem that needs to be solved. Agritech may not be the best solution to solve this food crisis, which is entangled with complex elements, but if development and efforts to respond to the food crisis with IT technology are gathered, it may be the hope of new agricultural innovation.

clipartkorea.co.kr