For the report, Harold van Es, professor in the School of
What they found was a gap in analytics and data management relative to the capabilities of modern-day equipment, sensors and data generation. They conclude that strategic investments in research and development, improved training in data analytics and system technologies, and reliance on the capabilities of public institutions and technology companies could impact the agriculture industry's national and global competitiveness in coming decades.
The Cornell researchers conducted a statewide survey of farmers, held workshops, reviewed prior research and performed a study on trends in "Digital Agriculture," a term for the use of computational and information technologies to improve the profitability and sustainability of agriculture and food systems.
"Agriculture, like other industry sectors, stands to see tangible benefits in the form of increased production efficiencies once digital agriculture technologies are effectively employed," said van Es. "New York has the chance to become an agricultural leader in the digital space and to fully capitalize on potential production gains, but doing so requires leveraging emerging technologies to improve the profitability and sustainability of agriculture."
The surge in digital agriculture technologies has led to the accumulation of large amounts of data. High-resolution soil data, site-specific weather maps, aerial imagery, nutrient applications, and milking and animal health records are being continuously generated by farms across the state. Much of that data can be sent via broadband or mobile connections to cloud-based services.
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-11-digital-agriculture-data-driven-future.html#jCp
