While the sensors needed to power these solutions are readily available, the inherent rural nature of agriculture often means they are deployed in areas without terrestrial network coverage. To bridge this coverage gap, satellite connectivity is deployed to provide persistent coverage.  

However, many satellite solutions create their own set of problems. They involve expensive hardware and unpredictable service costs such as monthly minimums and active device fees. Starnote is breaking away from the herd. 

Connectivity: The Achilles Heel of Smart Farming 

Smart agriculture reshapes farming by integrating embedded intelligence technologies into daily agricultural practices. Devices with various sensors collect data on soil moisture, crop health, and environmental conditions, facilitating informed decision-making.  

Despite their promise, the success of these technologies hinges on reliable connectivity. In remote areas, where smart agriculture holds the most potential for transformative change, inconsistent or non-existent cellular coverage is a substantial barrier​​. This connectivity gap limits the real-time transmission of data essential for precision farming, undermining the effectiveness of IoT technologies. 

Current smart agriculture solutions typically rely on local networks and satellite links to bridge this gap. Sensors, GPS systems, and drones have become more accessible, yet their dependence on continuous connectivity underscores a critical vulnerability.  

Starnote: Connectivity That Cultivates Smarter Agriculture 

Starnote offers the manufacturers of Smart Agricultural solutions the ability to guarantee connectivity in remote areas, a critical advantage that supports the use of advanced technologies. This connectivity empowers precision farming tools to function optimally, enabling real-time monitoring and management of crops and livestock without the constraints of geographical isolation. This allows farmers to: 

Streamline operations: Combining Starnote with Notecard, farmers can gather essential data to enhance crop production efficiently. This integration facilitates the optimal allocation of resources, significantly reducing water consumption, fertilizers, and herbicides. The result is a more sustainable farming practice that boosts yield and conserves vital environmental resources. 

Monitor conditions remotely: Starnote’s capabilities extend to developing applications that provide farmers with insights into agricultural conditions, such as soil moisture levels, weather fluctuations, and pest infestations. 

Manage precision irrigation: Starnote enables the deployment of precision irrigation systems that rely on real-time data to water crops exactly when and where water is needed, minimizing waste and maximizing efficiency. This approach conserves water resources and supports optimal crop growth conditions, leading to higher yields with less water. 

Track livestock health and location: Utilizing Starnote, farmers can implement advanced livestock monitoring solutions that track the health, well-being, and location of their animals in real time. This could involve wearable sensors for animals that monitor vital signs and movements, transmitting data back to the farmer or veterinary specialist for analysis.  

Farm machinery tracking and monitoring: By utilizing intelligent monitoring tools on heavy machinery, farmers can track wear and tear and use predictive maintenance capabilities to ensure their machinery runs smoothly, tackling issues before they cause costly breakdowns. 

Starnote: Bridging Barriers, Conserving Resources 

With Starnote’s reliable satellite connectivity, farmers in the world’s most remote corners can now access real-time data crucial for making informed decisions. This connectivity ensures that vital information on soil moisture levels, crop health, and environmental conditions is readily available, enabling farmers to optimize irrigation schedules, reduce resource wastage, and improve crop yields.  

Bridging the digital divide is a critical step to the universal adoption of smart agriculture. It ensures that innovative farming solutions like IoT devices and UAVs can operate seamlessly, irrespective of the location’s connectivity infrastructure. 

Beyond operational efficiency and overcoming connectivity hurdles, Starnote is pivotal in promoting environmental sustainability within the agriculture sector. Farmers can optimize water, fertilizers, and pesticides through precise resource management enabled by constant data flow. This contributes to the conservation of natural resources and the reduction of agricultural runoff, a leading cause of pollution in bodies of water. 

The Proof is in the Pasture: Experience the Starnote 

Starnote’s reliable, efficient connectivity is ready to revolutionize smart agriculture. It addresses the most pressing challenges of remote farming areas, enabling the integration of intelligent machines that drive data-driven decisions, enhance crop yields, and promote environmental stewardship. 

Blues’ Starnote’s impact extends beyond the immediate benefits of enhanced connectivity. It lays the groundwork for sustainable agricultural practices that balance the demands of increasing global food production with the imperative of preserving our planet for future generations.  

Discover how Starnote can elevate your agricultural operations to new heights. Book a demo with our experts today. 

Further Resources: 

• Check out the Starnote online 

• Read the blog: An Introduction to Starnote 

• Purchase the Starnote for Skylo Starter Kit 

The post Harnessing Starnote’s Persistent Connectivity to Boost Smart Agriculture appeared first on Blues.

Global sales are expected to reach nearly  $149 billion by 2031, with a UN estimate putting the number of worldwide customers and patients at 188 million.

In the US, medical legalization in 37 states is changing public attitudes about recreational use, creating a booming new industry. But lack of legalization at the federal level and over-regulation at the state level are causing serious challenges throughout the supply chain.

The legacy cannabis industry is at a tipping point.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is emerging as a way for cannabis cultivators to improve efficiency and profitability and comply with regulatory controls. By leveraging sensor data and analytics, businesses can reduce risk, increase profits, and improve customer service, making IoT solutions a powerful tool for success in this growing market. Much like the fresh floral industry, which is not unlike cannabis, technology will be an integral part of the shift toward a more efficient supply chain.

In this article, Blues speaks with Haerah Baird, a Cannabis Consultant specializing in supply chain optimization, covering the challenges currently being faced in California, and what could help ease the burden on the industry. We then look at specific IoT solutions in cannabis cultivation technology that have the potential to disrupt the industry and help growers scale. A quick acknowledgement that cannabis is a complicated topic, and this article barely scratches the surface – we’ll continue to cover important issues and emerging cannabis tech in the future.

Can you give us a quick overview of the cannabis industry?

There are so many things to say about the cannabis conundrum. In California, we see the intense regulations and high taxation at the state level make doing business expensive and nearly impossible for small operators. The flood of investor money and individuals seeking to participate in the “green rush” have actually contributed to the market volatility and instability.

These kinds of issues are felt throughout the supply chain, but I think cultivators feel them the most because they’re foundational to the supply chain.

How do cultivators track cannabis from seed to sale?

In California, we use a system called METRC, which tracks cannabis from seed or clone through harvest, processing, and distribution. It can provide full regulatory transparency throughout the supply chain and allow consumers to see product source information. At the cultivator level it’s particularly burdensome because for every operational activity on the farm, there is an associated action in METRC. Batches are retagged with RFID tracking basically any time the product changes form or licenses, all the way through distribution.

There’s not really a way to automate these built-in regulatory “brakes” and this affects scalability. It’s also incredibly wasteful and environmentally harmful as each tag is a piece of single-use plastic.

Seems there are lots of opportunities for technology use. What are the challenges?

A major challenge still affecting us right now is that the industry had to start from scratch. Businesses often piece together their own cannabis equipment and tech since cannabis remains illegal at the federal level.

We often use food-related machinery and equipment for packaging, but those who have a lot of hands-on experience working with cannabis understand it’s not usually that straightforward. Repurposing machinery to operate at scale can affect product integrity.

If you’re developing new tech, the complexity of working with cannabis products in an intensely regulated environment means you’ll get the best input from experienced cultivators and operators. However, those knowledge-holders are often left out of the conversation.

How do you see technology changing the industry?

There are so many opportunities for technology throughout the supply chain, and I hope we see more as the industry matures. As cultivators and licensed businesses scale, there is a tipping point where they need to implement new technology and automate processes. There have been some moves towards IoT, things like AI monitoring to keep eyes on the plants all the time. Precision growing is a hot topic as we see changes from small-scale farms to high-tech agribusiness. It might be a really profitable venture for someone to explore IoT integration with METRC.

In California it seems that only those who can financially afford to move past the tipping point into full scale automation have any chance to move forward in the industry; I think technology has the potential to make or break success for some operators. It’s definitely exciting to see the changes.

About Haerah Baird: Haerah is based in the Emerald Triangle region of Northern California and has worked in the cannabis industry since 2016. She specializes in supply chain optimization for small- and large-scale businesses across the state.

Innovative IoT Solutions for Cultivating High-Quality Cannabis

Controlled Environment Agriculture

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is a technology-based approach to growing plants that allows for precise control over environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, light, and CO2 levels. Farming is done in a greenhouse or indoor growing facility and allows for efficient, year-round production of high-quality crops.

CEA is becoming increasingly popular in the cannabis industry because it allows growers to create ideal conditions for their plants, resulting in higher yields and consistent quality crops. Systems can be highly advanced, incorporating AI and machine learning (ML) technologies to monitor and control the growing environment. These systems can adjust lighting, temperature, and humidity levels automatically based on data collected by sensors in the grow room. This allows for precise control over the growing environment, which can result in a more consistent product, higher yields, and advanced techniques like crop steering.

Cannabis Crop Consistency with IoT Sensor Technology

Cannabis growers face a complex challenge in ensuring consistent crop quality, as environmental factors can result in varied phenotypes, even in plants with the same genetics. It’s terroir on steroids. This makes it attractive but also incredibly frustrating, with product consistency being a critical outcome for commercial growers.

However, the cannabis industry is quickly embracing the latest technological advances to overcome these hurdles.

IoT (Internet of Things) technology is offering remote monitoring and control of cannabis crops to ensure precision agriculture, optimize cultivar expressions, and deliver a uniform final product. This technology uses several components, including:

Environment monitoring

Environmental factors must be under constant observation to avoid plant damage, mold, pests, and other issues. Temperatures may vary in greenhouses and indoor grow facilities, making multiple observation points necessary.

• Canopy management – Environmental sensors monitor microclimates (temperature, relative humidity, etc.) and data from many individual monitors are integrated into one observation dashboard.
• 3D microclimate mapping – takes system measurements and uses AI to build a weather map of the microclimates within the grow.
• Pipe and Tank sensors for electrical conductivity (EC), pH & temperature – EC, pH, and water temperatures imbalances can cause nutrient toxicity. This also monitors for the proper temperature for roots and mineral levels.
• CO2 – CO2 is used in most growth recipes, as it is critical for photosynthesis. In high amounts, it can still be dangerous to plants and especially to growers.

Light intensity monitoring

The importance of light intensity in cannabis growth cannot be overstated. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) affects the entire plant, and daily light integral (DLI) is the sum of all PPFD plants receive in 24 hours. Lighting intensity also affects water and nutrient management, which are essential for optimal plant growth.

Light deprivation techniques are widely used to trigger cannabis plants to start the flowering process.

• Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) – PAR is measured in photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), which affects the entire plant from flowers to roots.
• DLI sensors – Potentially the most important light measurement, DLI is the sum of all the PPFD plants receive in 24 hours.
• LUX monitoring – measures the intensity of the light around the plants relative to the heat source.
• Water and nutrient management
• Substrate sensors for water content (WC), EC, and temperature – substrate sensors ensure optimal conditions, and results can create triggers based on the preferred settings.
• Nutrient level monitoring
• Irrigation optimization

Pest control

Integrated pest management systems (IPMs) are also necessary to prevent damage from biological threats by monitoring environmental conditions such as air quality, filtration, humidity, and positive pressure.

• Integrated pest management systems (IPMs) – IPMs prevent damage from biological threats by monitoring air quality, filtration, humidity, positive pressure, and other environmental conditions. This could also include AI monitoring.

Yield monitoring

Yield monitoring through data tracking is vital for determining success factors for each strain, their impact on yield, terpene (aroma and effect), and cannabinoid (THC and CBD) levels.

• Strain or harvest batch recipes – these are the recommended grow room settings for each strain at every growth stage, specific to location and environment.
• Cultivation data tracking – historical data can be accessed to understand success factors for each strain, impact on yield, terpene, and cannabinoid levels.

Commercial facilities require a much more extensive and integrated system, connecting each critical component into a centralized control and command center.

Cannabis Crop Steering with IoT

Crop steering is a growing method that manipulates plants by intentionally changing the environment. This agricultural technique is not new but has only recently been optimized for cannabis by using different software and hardware solutions that help growers create the perfect conditions. Growers are seeking strains with higher cannabinoid percentages, greater pest resistance, biggest flowers, or other desirable traits that maximize profit.

To be effective, environmental changes need to be done at an exact time in a cultivar’s growth cycle. IoT in cannabis crop steering collects and analyzes data from sensors that monitor environmental conditions such as light, temperature, humidity, and water, and then adjusts those conditions in real-time to optimize for vegetative or generative needs. Using aggregate data, growers create crop steering strategies to achieve their immediate and long-term production goals.

The Future of IoT in Cannabis Cultivation

The cannabis industry is facing a pivotal moment as it navigates regulatory requirements and strives for efficiency and profitability, and new technology is rapidly emerging as a solution for automation and data-driven decision-making. IoT can help cannabis cultivators achieve greater efficiency, higher yields, and better quality products while also complying with regulations and maintaining accurate records of their processes. As the technology becomes more sophisticated and affordable, more cultivators are expected to adopt IoT solutions to improve their operations and stay ahead of the competition.

Overall, IoT technology has the potential to revolutionize the way cannabis is cultivated, tracked, and sold. Although the industry will undoubtedly face challenges in implementing and adopting these solutions, the benefits of increased efficiency, reduced costs, and improved quality and compliance will make it a worthwhile investment for many businesses in the cannabis industry. With the right tools and strategies, cannabis cultivators can embrace the opportunities of this exciting new market.

If you’re interested in learning more about building your own IoT solution for agriculture, see how AgroPatterns uses the Blues cellular IoT solution to remotely monitor greenhouses and maximize crop yield.

The post Growing Up: Cannabis Cultivation Technology Using IoT appeared first on Blues.

I have helped businesses across industries implement IoT solutions at all stages of development. I will be on-site at Tech Hub Live this July and would love to have an in-person conversation with you. You can also reach out to me directly on LinkedIn so I can share more details about our unique edge-to-cloud connectivity solution.

IoT and the Future of Farming

An estimated 30% of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally. Food waste amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year, worth approximately US$1 trillion. At the producer level, this waste could be due to inadequate storage, pests and disease ruining crops or affecting livestock, limited water resources, or many other reasons. This results in massive losses of food, land, water, and energy.

Data collected through the Internet of Things (IoT) enables the optimization of farming operations. IoT technology has been so rapidly adopted that experts predicted a trillion connected devices and $11 trillion in value by 2025, but those numbers seem unlikely as we get closer to the date. The level of technical complexity needed to start a project and exorbitant costs at scale has hindered progress. While we may not reach those goals, there is still growth on the horizon – especially in largely underserved markets such as agriculture.

The adoption of smart farming and smart greenhouse operations driven by IoT is increasing as we prove ROI and technology becomes more accessible. Improved yield, efficiency, and profitability are catalysts for innovation. Yet there are still barriers to adoption, as every industry segment dictates an individualized approach, and the nature of the work most often calls for cellular connectivity (a pitfall for many IoT projects).

Blues Wireless solves connectivity and data routing challenges elegantly and with a refreshingly simple approach at a tenth of the cost of competing solutions.

About Tech Hub Live

Tech Hub LIVE 2022 is the leading event for technological solutions in agriculture. Powered by CropLife Media Group®, the nation’s brand leader in agricultural retail communication, Tech Hub will provide tangible and actionable solutions that can be implemented this growing season.

With over 4,000 attendees across 40+ companies, the event will feature AgTech solution providers, manufacturers of dealer equipment, crop input suppliers, and independent crop consultants. Participants learn about issues impacting the industry, discuss new ways to improve farm operations, and foster relationships with other professionals.

One of the key themes across all the sessions at Tech Hub this year is a focus on digital transformation initiatives and best practices for the use of technology in farm operations.

Current Food Supply Challenges and How Technology Can Help

The advancements in AgTech have been striking, both in the rate of innovation as well as improved crop yields. Robotic farms, drones to help with precision agriculture, hydroponic farming techniques, autonomous farm equipment, labs creating meat – all these innovations have helped society.

Despite recent advancements, we continue to live in a world where a vast majority of farmers do not have access to the technology or financial resources to implement efficient systems and gain greater visibility into their operations.

Leverage Insights from Your Agricultural Assets

For agriculture to continue to feed the growing global population, farms must embrace best practices from the most elite manufacturers in the world with a razor focus on crop yields, sustainability, and freshness from farm to table.

Here are some use cases and customer stories from devices built using Blues Wireless, and how they could be applied to smart farming:

• Agricultural Machinery Condition Monitoring
• Cold Chain Monitoring from Ground to Grocery
• Greenhouse Condition Monitoring
• Livestock Tracking with GPS
• Pest and Disease Identification with Machine Learning at the Edge
• Soil & Water Quality Monitoring

Blues Wireless is an Extension of Your Development Team

At Blues Wireless, we believe remote sensing and control should be less expensive and less complicated. With our product and just a few lines of code, anything can be cloud-connected. This changes everything. But it can still be challenging to get started – where should farm operators begin their journey towards digital transformation?

Blues Wireless has a team of experts and experienced partners to help you move from pilot to a scaled deployment at a rapid pace.

For builders of IoT devices, Blues Wireless provides a fully integrated edge-to-cloud solution. The Notecard, our hardware component, provides instant cellular connectivity on a 35mm x 30mm System-on-Module. We also have a Wi-Fi version for fast prototyping and proof of concept. Our data routing service, Notehub, is a thin cloud communication layer. The JSON-based interface allows you to easily customize when and how your data is transferred, as well as where it is sent. There is no MCU or cloud lock-in, so you can fully customize your device to suit your business needs.

Most critically, our business model will not break your financial statements as you scale. Our commitment is that, unlike other solution providers in the market, you will never get locked into a long-term contract, and never get charged any of the following:

• Monthly data fees
• Activation or de-activation fees
• Monthly active SIM fees
• Monthly subscription fees

With Blues Wireless, you only pay for what you use, and you will never have to worry about monthly subscription fees or contracts. Usage is based on data routing services and events performed through Notehub, which are paid for using Consumption Credits. The purchase of a Notecard automatically credits 5,000 Consumption Credits to the associated billing account, and each account is refreshed to 5,000 credits each month. This is generally more than enough to get a project off the ground without paying any additional fees.

Next Steps for Making your Farm Operations More Efficient

Typically, the last hurdle that all AgTech solutions face lies within the final mile of solution implementation. There are many problems to solve when transporting data from a variety of sources at the edge – water, sub-soil, crops, flowers, cattle – to the cloud, or even gleaning useful insights from edge intelligence.

Blues Wireless solves your connectivity challenges with a secure edge-to-cloud solution that works out of the box. Contact me today to discuss the next steps for your business.

The post Smart Farming Solutions at Tech Hub Live appeared first on Blues.

Flowers are beautiful gifts, real living art in nature with pleasant smells, vibrant colors, and unique shapes. They are also delicate, require a lot of maintenance, and are highly perishable, especially when facing a long journey from field to store. Info Patterns founder and CEO Gabriel Coch and his team are a part of the solution to help address these challenges, with the goal of reducing waste and toxicity, making the flower industry more sustainable and environmentally friendly, while also addressing the intelligence needs of the flower growers.

The Challenge From Seed to Store

The flower industry represents 25+ billion dollars per year in gross revenue. 70% of the flowers delivered to the United States originate in the South American country of Colombia. Did you know 45% of the flowers grown never make it to their destination? Growing flowers at scale requires a very careful planning process involving calculating the available growth rates for the time of year and microclimate peculiarities. Production totals must line up with the amounts the grower has promised to their customers, and the agreed upon supply date. After all, a flower is worth a whole lot more if it is available for Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, than even one day later.

Maintaining control over production quality and quantity requires careful environmental monitoring. Controlling key variables like ambient temperature and humidity in greenhouses provide the grower predictability in flower growth rates. Further, when greenhouse conditions are optimal, the grower reduces their usage of expensive or hazardous countermeasures used in combatting damage caused by weather, fungi, or insects. Successful growers maintain a high degree of awareness of each greenhouse plot and make constant adjustments. If issues are left unchecked, millions of dollars of crop can be wiped out in a matter of days.

How IoT Helps Industrial Agriculture

To help growers meet their production goals, Info Patterns developed AgroPatterns, a suite of hardware and software modules designed specifically for industrial grow operations. When a grower implements AgroPatterns, they gain key insight into plot performance and conditions. The AgroPatterns suite informs agronomists on which adjustments to make to harvest the healthiest crops at the right time, while using less countermeasures.

Each greenhouse hosts an AgroPatterns IoT device that detects and reports environmental conditions every 10-15 minutes. These devices are zero-configuration for the grower, with power provided by the integrated solar panel, and connectivity provided over the cellular network by Blues Wireless Notecard devices. Given the remote conditions and lack of infrastructure, its unrealistic to expect electricity and internet connectivity at the greenhouse location, so being able to handle remote condition monitoring without infrastructure is a key factor in AgroPatterns success.

Scout workers audit each greenhouse plot daily, recording the presence and severity of insects or disease. Scouts work offline, collecting data using a mobile application, and then sync their findings using the internet connectivity at a central office. The data is processed into the AgroPatterns cloud, available for Agronomists to use in their work.

Agronomists access the AgroPatterns dashboards and screens to interpret the data and develop treatment plans for each greenhouse sector, with an eye on maintaining production goals and preventing waste. Depending on the reported conditions, agronomists may choose to devise a plan to counteract adverse growing conditions by introducing beneficial insects, or chemical substances. While these countermeasures will improve growing conditions, they aren’t without a cost. Industrial farming countermeasures can be expensive, time consuming to implement, and environmentally undesirable for either the earth or the workers. It’s best to manage the growing conditions to expressly avoid the types of conditions requiring countermeasures. Together, agronomists and production managers adjust the care plan in each greenhouse to meet or exceed the growth goals for that flower.

Results

Industrial flower growers get 4 key benefits when they use AgroPatterns’ software modules and IoT devices to collect and manage production data:

• Replacing floor workers’ handwritten notes with electronic notes that sync to the cloud
• Empowering agronomists to work with real-time data to make the best decisions regarding toxic countermeasures
• Reducing costs and exposure to workers
• Optimizing production processes for the unique needs of the fresh flower industry

Blues Wireless helped Info Patterns develop cellular connected IoT devices very quickly, sidestepping the need to upfit growing locations with expensive technology infrastructure. Each device uses a Blues Wireless Notecard to provide cellular connectivity usable even in the remote, mountainous regions of Colombia. Each Notecard comes with 500 MB of pre-paid data usable over 10 years, reducing connected device fleet operational expenses.

Local staff was able to place devices in the greenhouses and the sensors started reporting immediately. “Blues provided the simplicity and the breadth needed to build this solution,” stated CEO Gabriel Coch. “Growers want to make data-driven decisions so they can maximize their yield while avoiding expensive or toxic countermeasures.”

Conclusion

The AgroPatterns product from Info Patterns is gaining popularity across the globe, due to its ease of use and low cost. Customers want an out of the box solution for remote condition monitoring without the need for infrastructure like broadband or even electrical outlets. Customers are signing up in areas like Israel and Kenya, eager to gain more control over their industrial agriculture processes by using the latest technology and information. Info Patterns helps make agricultural processes more efficient and profitable, while also being better for the lives of workers, and our environment.

Stay up to date with the latest breakthroughs in Wireless IoT technology and applications. Visit us at Blues.io, or subscribe to our newsletter.

The post Industrial Agriculture Monitoring Uses Cellular Internet of Things Module to Improve Yields appeared first on Blues.