New Crop Software

The technology race only seems to be getting bigger and agriculture seems to be keeping on in the race. The giant Du Pont Pioneer has developed a new crop software that can might as well be called a farmer's best friend. This new technology combines a field-by-field data with real-time agronomic and weather information to help growers make informed management decisions. The main goal on the Pioneer Field 360 is "to guide growers to better use the field data they have collected, currently and in prior years, to increase farm productivity and profitability". This new farming toy might come at a very high price but its almost priceless the service it offers you. We cant yet control the weather but we can control how we manage it.

Google Glasses hits the farms

I stumbled upon this very interesting video on how Google glasses once again have managed to attract a bigger and diverse market assuring every sector is affected positively by its new product. Farmers and the Ag sector are not an exception. This video goes ahead and interviews different farmers from different backgrounds to see what they think of the new Google glasses. We often heard a similar answer, "hands-free technology". There are many things that this new device can offer and many apps but the very main way it will help farmers is by being a hands-free device that allows them to do other things while texting, calling on the phone or checking emails as well as storing information instantly. Google has now infiltrated into the the Agriculture industry and is here to make a big change.
  http://www.agriculture.com/news/technology/google-glass-hits-farm_6-ar32382 

Sprayers with lasers

The Ohio State University, College of Agriculture and Environmental Science has develop a new sprayer that would save costs on chemicals and harm on plants. This new prototype is an "intelligent" sprayer system that uses a combination of lasers and computer algorithms to monitor specific field conditions and only apply the amount of chemical needed for each plant. Studies have shown that this new system can reduce the amount of chemicals used by 40% to 87% with a better spray strategy control. For now the prototype is specifically for orchards. Eventually they plan on adapting this technology into other crops. The main reason for this new technology creation was for savings in the industry. Reports say that farmers spend more than $4 billion in pesticide each year.
http://http://www.agriculture.com/news/technology/sprayers-with-lasers-save-chemical_6-ar34189/news/technology/sprayers-with-lasers-save-chemical_6-ar34189

Advances in technology

There was once a time when farmers used to plow the land manually and it was one long hard task stretching from dawn to dusk. So they put their heads together and came up with the tractor. Cut to the 21st century and farming has gone all high-tech and is talking about GM food and agricultural biotechnology. The advances are huge but some are taking advantage of new technology to reduce cost and create more yield, but sometimes at the cost of the consumers. For example GM products are easier to take care of, require less attention and produce more yield, but you don't get the same nutrients as a non-GM product, and sometimes you can even get residue of pesticides and herbicides use in the GMO process. Health concerns have seen the soaring popularity of organic fruits and vegetables. The organic variety of food is cultivated without using pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and growth hormones. A negative aspect of where the adaptation of technology has been taken to by different companies.

http://www.ad-nett.org/

Hamster bot

The Rosphere, developed by a team at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, looks and functions just like a hamster ball, rolling over your croplands without the use of wheels or legs. Inside the Rosphere, a pendulum rotates on an axle to make it roll and steer itself, like a hamster running up the sides of a ball. It’s perfect for navigating crops without harming them, and rolling over uneven terrain. Using GPS and wi-fi technology, the device aims to collect information about soil composition, temperature, moisture and plant health, then broadcast it back to the farmer. And if the autonomous little robot somehow gets trapped, you can take over the controls and steer it remotely.

BEE bot

Harvard engineers have unveiled a teeny-tiny bee bot, allegedly the smallest flying robot ever made. Dubbed Robobee, the goals of this little guy are broad — everything from autonomous pollination to post-disaster search and rescue. In the UK, researchers are working on an autonomous bee with a more structured goal. They want to map the honeybee brain so they can completely synthesize bee behavior — and keep the world’s food chain intact.

Herder Bot.

 Australian researchers have designed a “Robotic Rover,” designed to keep cows in line like a cattle dog. It’s still in the planning phase, but Camden cows have responded well to the prototype. Rover uses 2D and 3D sensors, as well as global positioning technology, to herd cows where they need to go. According to The Land, one of the Robotic Rover’s most interesting features is its pace — it’s designed to move at cow-speed, rather than forcing cows to rush around. But you probably won’t own one of these anytime soon: The price tag is a cool $1 million Australian dollars.