Agriculture today faces several serious challenges associated with population growth and climate change. The sector needs to adapt to new conditions, including unstable weather, and meet increasing food demand. In addition, it is vital to combat climate change, which is only possible by reducing the negative impact of the agricultural sector on the environment. In this article, you can read about modern farm management solutions that offer a variety of monitoring, planning, and analysis tools, including field mapping, to help improve farm sustainability and increase yields.
What Is farm management?
There are various definitions of farm management. However, it can generally be characterized as a set of measures to increase productivity and profitability. After all, this is precisely the goal of most commercial farms. Farm management enables agrarians to make effective decisions about rationing resources and various field activities. Up-to-date farm management systems involve the application of innovative technologies and relevant software on the farm.
The current situation in the farm business
Unlike traditional farm management methods, data-driven farm management gives you the ability to keep your budget safe, including by providing reliable information on the health of your crop. It is crucial because increasing yields requires fertilizers, external energy, and pesticides. In addition, traditional farming methods can give false information and form the impression that an increase in productivity is associated only with an increase in consumed resources and that nature is the farmer’s direct competitor. This false information does not allow increasing the yield and causes various problems.
These issues are associated with the deterioration of conditions for growing crops and the negative impact on the environment. For example, due to wind or water erosion of the soil, a decrease in its productivity may occur. The use of pesticides and other chemicals in the fields also contaminates water sources, affecting agriculture and other areas, including fisheries. In addition, various types of pathogens and insects have become resistant to pesticides, which leads to reducing the diversity of livestock and crop breeds.
Use cases and benefits of farm management solutions
Farm management software outperforms any traditional farm accounting and bookkeeping method. In addition, agricultural software offers various ways to increase productivity and provides personalized data. You can save tons of time on paperwork and administrative tasks. Using farm management software makes it possible to forget about filling out tables and notebooks. Changes can be made with a few clicks, and you always obtain accurate, reliable data.
The farm management concept also includes improved planning and field monitoring to keep track of changes and events in the fields. The data allows you to make more efficient decisions at all stages of crop development, whether it is planting planning or fertilization. With access to historical yield data, you can also plan crop rotations and evaluate the effectiveness of various agricultural operations.
Knowing your operating costs and sales revenue enables you to make informed and potentially better investment decisions. An alert system also helps minimize risks, an essential part of quality farm management software. These alerts provide information on potential threats to crops, including pest attacks and adverse weather conditions, so that farmers can take timely action to protect their crops. Historical data on field productivity will also be helpful for farmers in building their portfolios.
The agricultural sector consumes about 70% of the global freshwater supply. The farm management systems can help to reduce water, fertilizers, and chemicals consumption. Accurate data enables agrarians to identify the needs of the plants and use the resources according to them. Hyperlocal weather forecasts and moisture sensors data contribute to the rational use of water, which is extremely important in the current situation. Efficient use of resources helps develop the farm’s sustainability and reduce the negative impact on the environment.
How to choose the right solution
Farm management software can provide a wide variety of functions. However, in their variety, the main thing is not to get lost and choose what will be helpful for you and can satisfy your basic daily needs. Don’t look at the quantity; think about a potential application of each offered function. Let’s look at the proper software’s most relevant and vital benefits.
- The software should provide the user with data and tools for planning, tracking various events in the fields, and accurate weather forecasts. It is essential for timely crop protection from the spread of diseases, pests, and adverse weather conditions.
- The right farm management software can help increase production, which is impossible without healthy soil. The software you select has to allow you to track soil moisture. It is also desirable to propose different fertilization, chemical, and seed application schemes based on soil analysis and field maps.
- Farm management programs can also offer personalized marketing plans and profit tracking. Accurate data and predictive analysis will enable you to make effective market decisions and make it easier to track profits.
- It is crucial to have access to tracking the overall performance of the farm. Proper farm management software will provide you with data from agricultural equipment, communicate with the team, and help you manage crops and stocks.
- The key to conveniently organizing farming and increasing yields can also be the ability of your software to interact with other programs. Automatic collection and analysis of data from different sources will give you a complete picture, minimize risks and help you make better decisions.
Final thoughts
Today, the farm management system involves using innovative technologies and software to increase the productivity of various agricultural sectors. There are many options for agricultural management software, but the main functions are monitoring, forecasting, and tracking as they help to make effective decisions. In addition, farm management contributes to more sustainable use of resources and a reduction in the negative impact of the agricultural sector on the environment.