How farmers are using big data to grow better crops

To feed the world, farmers need to double their production by 2050. That’s not easy, and it means they have to take advantage of everything that computing has to offer in order to do it.

FarmLogs is trying to help by enlisting big data and real-time analytics that tells farmers how efficiently they’re using their land, said Jesse Vollmar, chief executive of FarmLogs, speaking at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

Volmar said that his company helps farmers make use of every inch of crop land, and FarmLogs is already used to help grow 25 percent of row crops in the U.S. FarmLogs makes use of data from sensors on machinery as well as data coming in from satellite imagery.

“You wouldn’t expect this for a 10,000-year-old industry,” said Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s data center group, on stage at IDF. “Aggregating and ingesting that data is a huge challenge.”

Intel is supporting the big data effort with the “sensification” of objects via its Internet of Things platform. The Internet of Things refers to the addition of smarts, connectivity, and sensors to everyday objects. Doug Davis, head of the Internet of Things division at Intel, said that Intel expects to see 50 billion connected Internet of Things devices in a short time.

Above: Intel execs Doug Davis and Diane Bryant greet Jesse Vollmar of FarmLogs.