RSiegfried

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Many farmers are collecting data on yields, labor, sales, etc. to allow them to evaluate every enterprise on the farm, and to build profitable business.  The importance of financial data to the life of a farm is critical.  In a similar way, monitoring environmental conditions on a farm can provide improved yields, reduced risks of loss, and just reduce the overall feeling of uncertainty that many farmers have when away from the farm.  

There are sensors for air and soil temperature, humidity, soil moisture, frost, light, gates open/closed, water levels, battery condition, and dozens of others.  These sensors can be fitted with different transmitting technologies that range from 300 feet, to 1000's of feet, even out to as much as 9 miles.  The sensors data is often gathered by a "gateway" which pushes the data to the cloud via a cellular connection.  Farmers can connect to the data via computer, tablet, or phone.  Alerts and alarms can be set to notify the farmer when any sensor detects unfavorable conditions.  

Powering sensors and wireless transmitters has historically required solar panels and 12 v batteries.  But many technologies are emerging that are focused on minimizing power usage, allowing 3v and 5v batteries to last years.  New batteries are further extending sensor life.   Wireless sensors using 2 AA batteries are now available that can easily run for 1 to 2 years without battery changes, perhaps even longer.  The gateways typically require a AC power supply, and thus are located in a barn, heated greenhouse, or farm office.  

Currently most of these systems are designed to serve server rooms, commercial cold storage, and the pharmaceutical industry.  But they can be adapted to the farm with little effort.  These systems can monitor your walk-in cooler, heated greenhouse in winter, and hoop house in the summer.  They can remind you to charge your 12 v battery, that the barn door is open, or that the power is off on the water pump.  They can measure soi moisture, and tell you when to irrigate, or turn on the water itself.  A basic system can be put on a farm for about $500, plus some annual charges for cellular plans and cloud based data storage.  All of your data from different systems can now be stored and accessed from a single location in the cloud.  

Small farmers will succeed by farming smarter, not hard.  And data is at the heart of that approach.