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Satvir Grewal

Professor Presnell

UWRT 1103

November 21, 2017

Software in the Agriculture Sector

The Pace of Technology

Every ten seconds a child dies of starvation and hunger (Alexander). As United States or

even first world country citizens it cant be fathomed that this occurs. We move every day at

such at fast pace and sometimes forget what is occurring around us. Scientists have long wanted

a way to feed the world more efficiently, one of the top ways to do it is using computer software

in agriculture sector to help feed the world more efficiently.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimates that

chronic hunger and malnutrition currently plague 820 million people, over one-eighth of the

global population of 6.8 billion. By 2050, the world population is expected to reach 9 billion. To

accommodate this growth, the FAO warns that the world will have to nearly double its current

output of food, feed, and fiber. Yet without new technology and innovative farming methods,

this goal will be very hard to meet (FAO).

The Application of Software to Agriculture

My passion for computers grew as got older. I always loved playing video games and

began coding to make my own games. The combination of my love for it and agriculture field

made me ask the question, why isnt computer software as extensively used to benefit crop yield

and feed many people. My uncle who was an agriculture professor influenced me at an early age.

Crop technology raised my interest and I would always do my own research. In high school I
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wrote many of my own research papers on genetic modification and the need to upgrade

technology in agriculture.

In the article by Dengel on AI, artificial intelligence, supports my question by showing t

the challenges faced by the agriculture sector. He goes on to state the world is a globalized

industry that is highly competitive needing new technology to continue growth. The new

requests to handle the challenges causes adaptation to occur by farmers. The complex aspects

must be handled by computerized answers that have been recently created and not yet

implemented. He takes the viewpoint that AI can offer crops many avenues of becoming

efficient. He goes into details to show scope of the field and concludes that the application of the

technology will offer benefits to agriculture. He talks about the gps, sensors, robots, processing

logistics, and systems data. It builds a good base as to explore these fields. It helps me

concentrate on the specific technologies to discuss. (Dengel).

Megha and Lakshmana show a perspective of using sensors and x-ray technology to

grade fruits which I found very unique. The integration of AI technology and computer software

showed me the different ways to improve crop quality in the growing process. The formulas

computed go into the software and the software will then take into account factors of each fruit

to grade the level of sorting to see if its worth the previous process. It allows process to grow

crops to become more efficient. The method has accuracy <96.47% so it can improve the

agricultural field. This is just a single scope or field of software being applied in agriculture. It

still has further improvements to be made to implement it as far as speed (Lakshmana).

Drip water irrigation systems can be controlled by code developed by software engineers.

This topic is an example that perfectly fits my use of computer software to convey the idea of

using software technology further in agriculture. This system determines soil wetting patterns
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under a single emitter in order to suggest planning factors. The user inputs parameters into the

code and the code will display an output for the required design. It results in field test being

carried out to distribute water on different soil types. The benefits of such technology would be

to have control over multiple systems at a time on a single computer making things easier to

calculate. This in turn decreases error made by humans because of the program run by the

computer (Drip).

Improvements Being Made by Society

Scientists and companies involved in crop development using software, on their part,

have an obligation to be transparent about their affairs and make efforts to communicate with

farmers and the public about the nature of their products and any inherent risks they pose.

Multinational companies have vast resources, with a huge edge in their knowledge base, and can

play a constructive role in Indias progress. Few Indian companies have such resources or a

willingness to invest in long-term projects, with little hope of immediate revenues, in the face of

political and economic uncertainty (BIOTECH). There is also a need to foster research into the

social, ethical, economic, and environmental impact of emerging technologies in agriculture, as

this will not only help predict any negative ramifications of such interventions, but also evolve

strategies to deal with them. The development of local and regional agriculture is the key to

addressing both hunger and low income. The government should also enhance its legal system

by instituting penalties for those who do not follow the regulations, strengthen and enforce its

anti-trust laws to prevent monopolies, and impose product-liability laws to force corporate

responsibility (BIOTECH).

What is Next and Future Outlooks

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The modern computer is a device to be utilized to make change in the traditional

occupation sector like agriculture. It can track each individual animal, apply grading systems on

crops, and even control other technology using programming software. Information at such a

high rate that can be compiled isnt as utilized as it should be in this field. I believe by 2020, we

will move towards automated farming technology. This means that software will be coded,

given direction by a person, to tell AI such as sprinklers or other devices what to do. The wide

scope of coding, will lead to increase of efficiency at production records and financial records.

The computerized balanced outputs for crops will make yields higher. Which is the reason why

we must implement it. A computer can gather data for weather, prices, temperature and much

more. Error can be minimized as we increase production because everything is precisely

calculated.

Works Cited

Alexander, Ruth. "Does a Child Die of Hunger Every 10 Seconds?" BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web.

15 Mar. 2015.

"BIOTECH, India." Case Study Summary (2007): n. page. Oct. 2009. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.
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Dengel, A. Knstl Intell (2013) 27: 309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13218-013-0275-y

Drip-Irriwater: Computer Software to Simulate Soil Wetting Patterns under Surface Drip

Irrigation. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, Elsevier, 5 Sept. 2013.

"FAO.org." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Food and Agriculture

Organization of the United States, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.

Lakshmana, and Megha P Arakeri. Computer Vision Based Fruit Grading System for Quality

Evaluation of Tomato in Agriculture Industry. Procedia Computer Science,

Elsevier, 9 Apr. 2016.