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Reaping a Rich Harvest from Big Data

By Special Guest
Neil Barton, CTO at WhereScape
November 19, 2018

Businesses today thrive or fail on the ability to use the vast volumes of data at their fingertips. The most successful are able to respond and change course quickly as market conditions change. Whether that means redeploying resources to better combat an emerging threat or strengthening analytics capabilities to make game-time decisions in real-time. For me, the power of big data is that any commercial operation, in any industry, has the opportunity to utilize it to become a better business.   

For example, let's look at an industry not typically front of mind when we think about big data – farming.  It's an industry that is as old as humanity itself and is vital to our wellbeing and existence.  Indeed, according to the UN, the world population is set to grow from its current 7.3 billion to 9.7 billion by 2050, driving a need to produce 70% more food in order to nourish this growing number. To do this, farmers will need to find ways to maximize data and turn to new technologies to increase food production.

Thankfully the farming industry is already starting to derive huge gains from leveraging big data. Below are three examples to consider:

Changing strategy because of a change in market conditions
Analogue water meters currently help us to monitor water usage at home or at work but, intelligent as these are, remain of little value to water authorities regarding real-time water usage given they are unconnected devices. Alternatively, in the farming industry, connected sensor devices provide farmers vast amounts of data in real-time about the weather conditions, soil quality, crop’s growth progress and moisture content.  This enables producers to track and control water usage and work to prevent misuse and overutilization of water resources.  For instance, smart sensors can detect faults in an irrigation system in real-time, allowing farmers to fix leaks before water is wasted and costs rise.  Similarly, data gathered around weather forecasts can enable the producer to take proactive steps to minimize impending damage to crops as a result of incoming inclement weather. Finally, data generated by such sensors can be used to analyze and fine-tune the state of the producer’s business in general, as well as staff performance and equipment efficiency.

All of these measures can help farmers to plan for better product management and distribution.  More accurate forecasting of when, and how many, crops are going to be ready for harvest can enable just-in-time production scheduling, leading to minimal crop waste and lost revenue.

Redeploying resources to combat an emerging threat
While, historically, the industry has used broad weather patterns to guide expectations relative to harvest, such as ‘a bad summer means a later harvest’ or ‘a good summer means a better harvest’, today’s farmers are doing much more than reading the tea leaves.  As global weather patterns shift and climate change delivers greater severity and breadth of potential damage, farmers are turning to the Internet of Things (IoT) as the savior that brings data from on-field sensors, aerial drones and weather data together to generate actionable insights for the agri-business. By marrying a series of on-field data together, farmers are able to respond quicker to unexpected events and redeploy resources to better combat emerging threats. Having the ability to react to changing weather patterns, or even political situations, is not only helping producers grow their business, but also encouraging them to expand into new areas, such as horticulture crops, without the fear of waste and loss from shorter shelf lives.  

Sustainable farming
For any farming operation, regardless of size, preserving valuable resources is key to maximizing ROI.  However, greener practices are not only good for the environment and profit margins. Given the growing population and the need for greater food production globally, sustainability will be necessary to meet the world’s needs. Beyond smart irrigation, drones, connected greenhouses and in-field soil nutrient and light monitoring are just some of the ways in which producers are connecting to systems to ensure optimum watering levels, fertilizer distribution, resourcing requirements and crop status.

In a competitive farming environment where commodity prices are low, increased production is becoming almost essential for success.  According to an IPSOS study of farms across Canada, farms that were in some way “smart” outperformed traditional farms by over 500% on return on assets, and over 100% on growth and profits. In a competitive industry, this represents a huge advantage and is further driving producers to take a serious look at smart technologies and maximizing the use of data in farming. 

Data, data everywhere 
While availability of data is one thing, the accessibility and analysis of it in a timely way is quite another. So with the pressures that modern producers are under, how do they ensure they can derive actionable insights from the volume of data available? Ingesting real-time ‘streaming data’ directly from the field can give agri-businesses unprecedented visibility into trends, trouble spots and opportunities as soon as they emerge. The challenge is how to incorporate these new data sources and streaming technologies into existing analytic environments and make them quickly and easily accessible to the business – and within context – especially given their variety in formats and data types.

Well, automation can help. When automation supports streaming data, it minimizes the learning curve for IT teams and reduces the complexity of managing the real-world hybrid of streaming and traditional batch-based data that organizations are surrounded by each day.  Streaming data automation can help IT teams deliver real-time data and insights to the organization at the speed needed by the business, whether within agriculture, manufacturing, banking or more. By truly harnessing the value of the data they are surrounded by, organizations leverage one of the greatest assets at their disposal to grow. And in the case of agricultural businesses, it will be the key to all of our wellbeing. 




Edited by Ken Briodagh
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