Internet Farming?
Posted on Jul 2, 2009 by University of Georgia |
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Farmers will soon be able to open gates, track livestock, steer tractors and control other farm jobs by computer, says a University of Georgia researcher.
As more rural areas gain high-speed Internet access, a farmer could do all this and not even be on the farm, said Stuart Pocknee, a precision agriculture program coordinator with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“A farmer could be out of the state at a meeting or even on vacation and pull up his farm’s Web page and farm,” said Pocknee, who works in the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL) in Tifton.
Internet farming seems a novel idea now. But it’s really not that far-fetched, Pocknee said.
Fast communication technology is already being used for many applications. Factory machinery can be accessed and controlled by a technology worker outside the factory. A person can call home to start or stop appliances or air-conditioning system. A simple home security system can call for help when it senses someone breaking in.
Technology may never replace some farming work, Pocknee said. But the tractor made farming easier and more efficient than the mule-driven rigs of the early 1900s. Modern communication technology could do the same in this century.
Wireless Internet communications have the greatest potential for on-farm use, he said. Wireless simply means there’s no physical connection between a sender and the receiver. They’re connected by radio waves.
UGA’s precision agriculture team has pilot wireless communication projects established on farms now. One allows a farmer to remotely monitor his vegetable packing shed operation. Another will allow a farmer to do the same with his irrigation system.
Wireless technology products of the past have not transferred well to farm use, Pocknee said. But newer products have greater potential. They’re more versatile, inexpensive and easier to use.
Many variables have to be overcome on a farm, such as trees, hills and extended distances. But it can be done, he said, if there is an interest within the wireless industry and agriculture.
Maximizing Research Opportunities
Critical to the success of the research program at UGA is the construction of badly needed facilities in this area of institutional strength. The $40 million Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical Health Sciences, which was completed in 2005, includes two floors of biomedical research laboratories, a state-of-the-art bioimaging research center, a 20,000-square-foot rodent-barrier facility and program offices for BHSI and the College of Public Health. Also, the College of Veterinary Medicine opened the Animal Health Research Center in 2006. AHRC houses scientists who study infectious diseases and toxicity problems that affect human and animal populations. Additionally, the College of Pharmacy’s capital campaign has raised $7 million of the $10 million it committed to build new facilities that will “bridge UGA and Medical College of Georgia,” while the state has promised to fund $36.5 million of the project. The new 140,000-square-foot Complex Carbohydrate Research Center was dedicated in February 2004, and its 900 MHz NMR spectrometer became operational in January 2005.
Office of Vice President for Research and Associate Provost University of Georgia 609 Boyd Graduate Studies Building Athens, GA 30602 Phone: 706/542-5969 Previous “Maximizing Research
Comments
there is not enough money going back to the farmer to support this type of expense maybe the fertilizer companies can use this technology on there farms
Please wait…