In 1930, one farmer fed 10 people.
Today, one farmer feeds 155 people.
In 2050, one farmer will need to feed 250 people.
To meet this exploding demand, Land O’ Lakes, a global leader in precision agriculture, is using cloud technologies to revolutionize modern farming.
A farmer’s success is all about making the right decisions.
From when to plant seeds, to where and how much to water and fertilize, farmers have always been faced with a litany of decisions. Teddy Bekele, VP IT at Land O’ Lakes explains, “Most farmers need to make 40 major decisions throughout their crop’s growing cycle. These 40 turn into about 200 smaller decision points, all of which impact the success of a crop.”
Traditionally, farmers based their decisions largely off intuition. Today however, cloud, IoT, and big data technologies are efficiently capturing, ingesting and analyzing data from multiple sources simultaneously, arming farmers with the real-time data they need to make more informed decisions. Better farming decisions translate to larger yields with fewer resources.
More mouths, fewer resources.
The United Nations estimates that by 2050, the world’s population will reach 10 billion. The same study highlights that by as soon as 2030, global water demand will outstrip supply by 40%. Given the scarcity of water, arable land, and other input resources, a farmer’s ability to sustainably improve yields will be critical to feeding future generations.
Land O’ Lakes is investing millions in agricultural technology to help farmers produce more food, with fewer resources and less environmental impact. The development of cloud-native systems that help farmers make data-driven decisions is at the heart of the Ag Tech Revolution.
The Agriculture Technology Revolution
Ag Tech will close the gap between genetic potential and real world results. The development of cloud-based systems that help farmers make data-driven decisions is at the heart of this revolution.
“We are building applications that streamline data capture and knowledge transfer, all in real time.”
– Teddy Bekele, VP IT at Land O’ Lakes
Listen to Teddy Bekele & David Linthicum Discuss the Latest Ag Tech Trends in Cloud and IoT
CTP worked with Land O’ Lakes to develop a data collection application that securely and automatically enables data exchange between growers, retailers, and third party providers.
Cloud Data Silo – Basic Architecture
Data Silo enables connectivity between previously disparate systems, speeding knowledge share and time to farm operations.
Built on Google Cloud Platform, Data Silo enables farmers to more quickly and accurately store, share and analyze crop data. Core features include:
- Web-based upload of files to easily store large data sets
- User dashboard that allows for easy sharing
- Ability to rapidly search for information
- User groups and roles for control over who owns and can access data
The stakes are high, but breakthroughs in cloud and big data technology are enabling a new generation of cloud-enabled farmers. By leveraging these technologies, Land O’ Lakes farmers are producing 650% more corn today on 13% fewer acres than they were 50 years ago.
US Corn Production vs. Planted Acres
Today’s farmers are producing significantly more corn on fewer acres.
From buried IoT sensors that can accurately predict future yields, to smart dashboards that integrate crop and field data from thousands of acres, the farms of the future will need to be even more connected, productive and sustainable. The world’s population is depending on it.