What do texting and agriculture have to do with each
other? It might sound like the lead-up to a bad joke,
but the answer may just be, a whole lot! Increasingly,
the power texting holds to advance farming is being
recognized, and scientists and developers are crafting
SMS technology that can improve productivity and business
on both local and larger farms.
A surprisingly simple application of SMS represents
a great boon to smaller, local farmers. To aid in sales,
some farmers are using texting how it was intended in
the plainest sense-- no-frills, to-the-minute communication.
By presenting a direct, instant, and convenient link
between farmers and the market, texting allows farmers
to know exactly when is the best time to harvest and
sell their goods, and buyers know when to find the goods
they wish to buy. In a world where grocery store chains
dominate and communication with small, local vendors
and farmers can be sparse, texting may just be the solution
for local farmers who fear dwindling business.
Alongside business, greenhouses are also going digital.
While greenhouses whose conditions can be controlled
remotely online are not new, recent technology has incorporated
texting as a medium. Farmers with greenhouses can receive
text message alerts when certain conditions are reached
or changed in the greenhouse, and can change these conditions
right on their smart phones. This move towards more
modern technology at the least offers a much more convenient
model, and may significantly improve the experience
of small farmers with poor or limited access to the
Internet for whom online greenhouse regulation may be
more challenging.
Not impressed yet? BioServe Space Technologies and
AgriHouse Brands Ltd. have partnered to churn out a
new device using NASA technology that allows plants
to text their farmers when they are in need. The Colorado-based
organizations have developed sensors that detect electrical
pulses and can be attached to plants without harming
them, even through intense weather conditions. This
data is interpreted and made available on the user's
computer, in large part to prevent overwatering of crops,
and when specific crops need attention, such as watering,
the farmer receives a text message notification. And
it doesn't end there; agriculture isn't the only side
of farming getting a high-tech makeover.
Farmers of livestock, rejoice-- a great deal of development
in agriculture-geared SMS technology centers on streamlining
the farming of commonly kept animals. More specifically,
a variety of technologies that allow cows to send texts
to their farmers--or close enough--are beginning to
emerge. One such development is a "texting collar" for
cows: cows wear high-tech collars containing 3D sensors
that detect subtle changes in a cow's movements which
the collar then interprets-- Do these changes mean the
cow feels unwell? Is it in labor?--and texts their farmer
with updates on each cow. This development saves farmers
the labor hours of closely monitoring individual cows,
and functions as a 24/7 addition to a farm's work force.
Other SMS technologies designed for cows perform even
more specific functions than these collars. A cut above
earlier robotic milking machines that could call farmers
when the machines malfunctioned, some new robotic milking
machines have incorporated SMS technology; these machines
can not only text farmers when something goes wrong,
but text farmers with data for their dairy cows such
as milk yield, either as the information becomes available
or at intervals set by the farmer. Receiving these updates
by text spares farmers time and effort on monitoring
cows and collecting data manually.
Another interesting application of texting to farming
is the use of SMS to aid in breeding livestock. Most
cows are impregnated through artificial insemination,
a process that is much more successful when the female
cow is in heat. However, dairy cows are progressively
demonstrating fewer physical signs of heat, making monitoring
cows for heat a more arduous task. Enter texting: Swiss
professors at a university in Bern have developed a
mechanism by which they implant a chip into cows that
detects signs of heat, and, yes, texts their farmers
to inform them when a cow is in heat. The device not
only saves farmers labor hours and resources, but may
better detect subtle changes that indicate heat than
a human farmhand.
Texting is only beginning to make its impact on the
world of farming. While promising advances have been
made, many of these devices and processes are in limited
use, or are still being tested and improved. Who knows
how SMS technology will change the face of agriculture
as more and more developments are made in the coming
years? We can't wait to find out.
About the Author -
Sharon Housley is the VP of Marketing for NotePage,
Inc. a software company for communication software solutions.
http://www.notepage.net
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