Technologies in Agriculture

Malik Wheeler
University of South Carolina

Author Note
Malik L. Wheeler, Integrated Information Technology Undergrad, University of South Carolina
This research paper is a part of an E-Portfolio for a Professional Internship.
Contact: wheeleml@email.sc.edu

In industries such as agriculture and textiles, technology is constantly being implemented

to improve the industry standards. Technology is the application of science in an industry or
engineering to invent useful things or solve problems. The full definition of technology is
referred to as the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area (MerriamWebster). Technology is used throughout society for various reasons. It is used for electricity,
food, shelter, water, and so much more in modern society. Although it is often overlooked as
being as important as it really is, it is used for nearly everything humans do including surviving.
Agriculture is defined as the science of producing crops, cultivating soil, and raising livestock for
the preparation and marketing of the resulting products (Merriam-Webster). Technology and
agriculture contrast and work well with each other in modern society. Technology improves
agriculture so that its resulting products can be marketed in ways that are more beneficial to

society on a global scale. Technology in agriculture can decrease labor costs while increasing
production rates.
Agriculture is one of the most important industries, especially involving technology.
Agriculture uses GPS maps, GPS locators, computer monitoring systems, and electronics sensors
(New World). These technologies create an advancement in agriculture by lessening the use of
fuel and fertilizers. With the use of less fertilizers, there can be limited food sickness related to
fertilizers and fuel. Farmers also have to do less labor with better tractors and farming
equipment. Nanotechnology is also being introduced into agriculture. With these new
technologies in agriculture, the farming population has drastically decreased. According to New
World Encyclopedia, only 2 percent of the United States population works in agriculture. In the
beginning of the 20th century one farmer could feed up to twenty-five people. With technology,
one farmer can feed up to one-hundred and thirty people (New World). There are also engineers
in agriculture who design process to benefit agriculture. This can include vehicles, power
systems, and structures. Vehicles can be tractors, carts, or ATVs. Vehicles can decrease labor
and increase the speed of production. Power systems are how power on the farm is generated
which can include windmills, water pumps, or solar panels. Power systems can benefit
agriculture if used correctly by decreasing labor and increasing production rates. Examples of
structures include barns and trailers. Structures can provide storage and be used for multiple
reasons helping increase production rates and decreasing labor. All the implemented systems can
decrease long-term labor costs and improve production rates. Other technologies include the
design of power systems, vehicles, structures, and as well as the project plan that affects the
farming. Some well-known vendors and manufacturers in agriculture include the Deere
Company, Caterpillar Inc., and New Holland.

Agriculture is still much a global trade which includes nations from across the globe. For
example many fruits and vegetables which cannot be grown on United States soil are transported
in from foreign areas such as Mexico, China, Africa, and India. Fostering Agriculture
Competitiveness Employing Information Communication Technologies (FACET) is an
agricultural development organization in Africa. It works to use and improve information and
communications technologies to improve the impact of agriculture (KDID). The competitiveness
is based on efficiency, lowering costs, and increasing operations (KDID). This goes to show that
the companies who can better use the technologies while being efficient, affordable, and
balanced, the more successful the agriculture company will be. Being competitive does not only
require better technology and wise use of resources, it also requires good agriculture products.
The location of the farms and what is being grown is a big role. Having useful technology in
agriculture can improve the crops and have better results, but if the consumers are not buying the
technology companies will go elsewhere to become more useful and benefit other crops. For
example, FACET has a short-term goal of technical assistance to projects to help them improve
their uses of ICT (Information, communication, and technologies) (KDID). In Africa, the
usefulness of cell phones helps their agriculture trade while in the US more will most likely be
needed. The US has a much more demanding market for agriculture in a population where food
is so popular. The US also has more companies to provide cheaper technologies for agriculture.
Many companies such as Deere and Company which are American based provide equipment at
cheaper cost because they are based in the US. Companies such as the Caterpillar Inc., and Ford
Motor Company are also US based who provide manufacturing products in the agriculture
industry.

At Still Hopes, agriculture technologies could improve the wellness and help the
community reach a higher standard of living. For example, if the community grows its own fruits
and vegetables to eat and serve it save lots of money and possibly profit while creating a fun
experience for the community. Although many technologies in agriculture are far advanced to
produce on such a small scale, Still Hopes can still benefit for the technologies in agriculture.
Still Hopes may only require IT professional records, telecommunications, and engineering
design. The design may require planning, structure, organizing, implementing, and executing
which would decide what types of technologies to use. By using small vehicles to carry produce
and small tractors for heavy loads of crops, it could possibly be an agriculture and IT success.
The IT team would have to monitor watering processes, lighting, and things electronically that
would affect farming. IT would also have to monitor records with applications. Many other
factors including financing and labor would ultimately decide how effective the technology will
be. If these factors are well approved then better technology can be implemented to harvesting
many crops. For example, limited fuel and fertilizers with technology by adding sprinklers could
improve the farmer to people fed ratio. The less farmers and the more crops to feed people
because of better technologies the better the result. Another example that could be beneficial is
using sprinkler systems to water and irrigate the crops. Without having a large machine that uses
gasoline to harvest the crops, the sprinklers can be timed by the IT systems administrator and
monitored by security. Sensors can also be installed to prevent small animals from eating away at
produce. Also implementing systems such as solar panels to power any structures or provide
electricity near the community farm can be beneficial. There are many possible technologies to
implement in a farm to provide more crops and less labor while limited fertilizers and fuel,
which can save money and increase profit.

Implementing new technologies into agriculture is widely practiced and becoming fairly
important. With food popularity on the rise featured on television, magazines, and billboards
across the globe it is important that technology helps improve this industry. Limiting food
sickness by limiting the use of fertilizers and fuels used in crops by including more technologies
in agriculture goes to show how much technology does help our modern society. By decreasing
labor and increasing the number of crops produced while preventing food illness only proves that
technology can be beneficial to agriculture. Adding technology to agriculture in small farming
communities such as at Still Hopes where I was an intern, can be beneficial to the community in
many positive ways. Technologies in agriculture can be overlooked compared to other industries,
but is proven to be very important.

References
MediaWiki. 30 July 2013. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Agricultural_technology
Microlinks. http://kdid.org/projects/field-support/facet
Dixon Power Systems (2007). http://dixonpowersystems.com/services/agricultural.php. Lincoln,
NE
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2015)