Foreign Investments Europe Plenty of attention for ‘smart farming’ at sensor conference

Plenty of attention for ‘smart farming’ at sensor conference

During the two-day Sensor Universe conference in the WTC Expo Centre in Leeuwarden, there will be plenty of attention for so-called 'smart farming'. The Northern IJkakker project is working on a technology in which farmers can receive information from sensors on their computer or smart phone, so that they know for example, precisely when a product can be harvested or can see whether the fertiliser percentage in the soil is correct. The workshops at the conference are bound to attract great attention.

Farmers want as much adequate information as possible which they would normally only gain by having samples tested. Whereas laboratories take a number of days to give results, sensors provide the same information immediately. The sensors can be installed in the field for example or on a machine, and can provide all kinds of data.

According to NOM project developer Bart Schanssema, the new technology may allow arable farmers to work approximately 10 to 15 per cent more efficiently. In the Leeuwarder Courant newspaper, he claims that the Netherlands must take action in the field of efficiency in order to stay ahead of the foreign competition. "Elsewhere in the world, low level crop yields are being produced at a low cost, but that will not continue indefinitely. There too, the yields are on the up", according to Schanssema.

Fields are being selected for trial sampling at a number of locations in the north, including Friesland.