One of the most important modern problems humanity faces is food security. Providing people with access to sufficient amounts of food is the responsibility of each state individually, but this task also has a global scale. Food security is achieved through the well-coordinated joint work of many sectors, particularly agriculture. For this industry to function effectively, modern agro solutions and crop protection tools are used, which reduce risks and minimize their impact on agricultural processes.
Why Is Crop Protection So Important?
Various cultures are affected by a huge number of factors that reduce production efficiency and lead to both quantitative and qualitative yield losses. Since some of them are complex, influencing many aspects, growers and agro specialists utilize artificial intelligence and advanced satellite technology to identify vegetation deviations and use crop protection timely. These methods allow them to optimize production, carry out many tasks remotely, reduce costs, comprehensively assess large areas, and analyze the collected data more efficiently. For the best results, global organizations develop comprehensive plans and strategies to help stop environmental degradation at the international level (e.g., the European Green Deal).
Among the most significant factors and problems that agribusiness deals with are the following:
- temperature changes;
- lack of moisture, light, and nutrients;
- pollution of soil and water with nitrates;
- soil erosion and salinization;
- excessive felling of trees;
- exposure to bacteria, viruses, and fungi;
- reproduction of pests and parasites;
- distribution of weeds.
There are lots of factors that reduce the agricultural sector’s efficiency, and many of them are interrelated. Therefore, the issue of crops protection is really acute.
Pest And Disease Management Role In Crop Protection
Protecting crops from pests and diseases is an important part of a larger set of measures to preserve crops and ensure food security. In a neglected state or with improperly selected treatment, diseases and insects can cause catastrophic damage to crops. There are several techniques for how farmers protect their crops while creating a sustainable farm:
- Natural: settlement of the area by insects and predatory animals that eat pests (for example, praying mantises or wasps).
- Physical: disinfection of soil and other materials, including seedlings.
- Mechanical: removal of diseased and infected plants from the territory.
- Biological: introducing beneficial bacteria and fungi into the soil and water.
- Chemical: application of fungicides, pesticides, and herbicides.
- Cultural: crop and weather monitoring with modern instruments.
It is vital to use an integrated approach and adjust it depending on the region and the needs of your business to preserve the harvest.
Improving Fertilizer Efficiency With Satellite Technology
The introduction of satellite technologies helps to solve many agricultural problems. With their assistance, growers can increase crops by optimizing the use of fertilizers. Based on satellite data, specialized programs compile field maps that show zones with high and low yields. Thanks to them, you can adjust the application of plant food depending on the problems and needs of each area.
Fertilizer optimization is essential for obtaining higher yields while lowering financial costs, but also because some governments control and limit the use of agricultural inputs. When growers are limited in what they can do, they want to make the most of it. So instead of relying on intuition, they can use satellite data to identify areas that require fertilization.
Using EOSDA Crop Monitoring For Advanced Crop Protection
Satellite technologies make crop protection even more effective by regularly monitoring and analyzing crops and fields. EOSDA has developed the EOSDA Crop Monitoring platform, which gives growers access to satellite analytics based on various data types. For example, they can create field maps to monitor crop conditions in separate zones, use vegetation indices to track crops grown, use weather forecasts to take timely protective measures, and so on. What's more, EOSDA Crop Monitoring allows you to plan every step of the farming process: seeding, fertilizing, pesticide application, and more.
EOSDA Crop Monitoring fits perfectly into the concept of food security and helps small farmers and large enterprises create sustainable production. With its help, they can protect crops, use available resources efficiently, and improve the quality and volume of production. This platform is effective not only for farmers but also for other participants in the agricultural sector. For example, insurance agents can analyze the quality of agricultural work to monitor compliance with insurance conditions or inform clients about impending danger. EOSDA plans to launch a satellite constellation in the future, making the platform even more efficient.
Thus, crop protection is not only the most critical challenge for maintaining the farmers’ productivity but also an issue of global food security. There are different ways of protection: mechanical, chemical, and so on. At the same time, the number of dangerous factors is so great that it is extremely difficult to take them all into account and ensure the proper level of security. Modern crop protection solutions, including satellite monitoring, allow you to increase the efficiency of this process and achieve the best results with the least expenditure of effort and resources and the greatest economic benefit.
