When people discuss the revolutions in the history of agriculture, they generally agree that the first revolution was the transition from hunter-gatherer to agriculture.
The second transformation coincided with the Industrial Revolution and mechanised agriculture, and farmers’ market access was improved by faster transportation.
The third revolution revolved around hybridisation and genetic engineering with the increased use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers.
Thanks to the speed, reliability and scalability of 5G networks, the fourth revolution in the form of smart farming has already begun and is spreading throughout the food supply chain.
With the global population projected to reach more than 9.7 billion by 2050, feeding the world sustainably will be one of the most critical challenges.
The UAE is taking an innovative approach to this challenge, with advanced technologies and Fourth Industrial Revolution solutions at the heart of their strategy.
Safety and tracing
The entire food supply chain has always used technological advances to produce, ship and sell food. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software systems, GPS, and other surveillance technologies are currently used to track, transmit, and analyse product data in real time.
Advances in 5G support for Internet of Things (IoT) sensors are the next step in fine-tuning supply chain processes.
A 5G-enabled IoT device can match food and report its condition, temperature, safety, humidity level, and other relevant factors in real time.
That’s a safety improvement that could calibrate any product tracing for recalls, or any other purpose, from an entire crop or manufacturing period to a granularity of a storage facility or specific delivery vehicle.
If 5G-enabled IoT sensors are used in the farm, all products in question can be narrowed down to one hectare or one row from the entire farm.
Efficiency just in time
Agricultural companies implementing private 5G networks can enable high bandwidth use cases, such as crop monitoring with drones and self-driving cars.
Data can also be collected, aggregated, and shared in real time from thousands of transactional or triggered IoT sensors in time for regular tasks such as planting, watering, and harvesting.
Data can also be used in predictive analytics models to improve any number of target yields and sustainability. In short, 5G has the potential to enable lean farming.
Sustainability
Not only are the traceability and delivery parts of the food supply chain benefiting from the capabilities of 5G networks, but also making the farm more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources.
To reiterate, humans can use IoT devices to monitor soil conditions, temperature, water quality and use, animal health and location, refrigerator and stove temperatures, or the presence of pollutants.
This not only frees up human labour for actual problem solving and innovation, but also introduces opportunities to reduce water, feed, energy, and fuel consumption, to name a few.
The edge monitoring and computing power of 5G networks is also key to these improvements in sustainability.
Autonomous robots and vehicles
Spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic’s depletion of the workforce and increased requirements for cleaning and disinfecting, manufacturers and warehouses, among others, are turning to autonomous cleaning robots, which can meet expanded cleaning regulations.
Floor cleaning robots use artificial intelligence (AI) -driven navigation and 5G to consistently and seamlessly clean the floors of warehouses and factories.
Autonomous vehicles are also revolutionizing food production in farm fields. These types of tractors rely on the low-latency connectivity 5G offers for real-time response and remote monitoring and control.
Currently, it seems as if these tractors only require farmers to fuel them – if needed, electric and hydrogen-fuelled tractors exist – and move them from field to field. That’s hundreds of person-hours saved with one smart machine.
Looking Ahead
The importance of 5G-enabled IoT devices for safety, tracing, efficiency, and planning in the modern food supply chain can’t be denied. They’re becoming integrated into mainstream food production and could soon be as necessary as they are ubiquitous.
Whether a communications service provider (CSP) provides the connectivity, or an enterprise opts for private 5G, smart farming requires a network that is secure and allows for visibility all the way to the edge.
Looking out over the edge
Will 6G allow tractors to drive themselves from field to field? Will innovations in 5G—and 6G after it— revolutionise cooperative, small-scale, local farming?
Could a quiet, electric tractor operate 24/7 in closer quarters to residential areas, producing food for the community? Could 5G+ technology-driven just-in-time farming be the solution for food insecurity? Be the solution for food security?
What could this scenario mean for increasing farmers’ incomes? Or for reducing the price of food while increasing its availability? Could a resurgence of small, local farms act as insulation against global price and supply fluctuations such as those the war on Ukraine is having on grains and vegetable oils?
Whatever happens in the long term, the advances in smart farming and food supply chain monitoring enabled by 5G technologies are already revolutionising food production and delivery.
Gaurav Mohan, VP sales, SAARC and Middle East, NETSCOUT
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