Energy Efficiency And Farming

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Energy Efficiency And Farming

You may think that farming is one of those industries that is already performing quite well when it comes to the environment. It is not a massive corporation which is spewing pollution into rivers, or an urban retail business which wastes so much cardboard and plastic, not the mention the immense amounts of electricity required to keep the lights on all day. However, this would be a misconception. The carbon footprint of a farm can still be quite substantial. For instance, the use of machinery like combine harvesters or tractors requires fuel which results in a certain degree of pollution. Not only that, the manufacturing process that created those machines would have resulted in a great deal of pollution. There is then the issue of how the farm manages to sell its products. Employing a transit company, irrespective of whether it does its best to reduce its emission, is another toll on the environment. There is then the issue of all of the fuel and electricity that are used when running a farm. The animals themselves can be a problem too. Cows are said to produce between 70 and 120 kg of methane a year. That is the equivalent of 2300 kg of carbon dioxide, which is about as much as is produced when you burn 1000 liters of petrol. You could drive 12500 km with that much.

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Good Crop/Bad Crop: Concerns For The Modern Farmer

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Good Crop/Bad Crop: Concerns For The Modern Farmer

Common issues affecting farmers and landowners now are in many ways similar to the issues of yesteryear. It’s just that now, with the rise in cost and improvements in farming technology, it means so many mounting costs. Does the modern farmer have the resources available to keep their farming business safe and profitable? There are so many farmers now that are trying to make the job of farming easier. Tech is starting to make the whole process automated, which means a lot less work for farmers, but will it make the job of farming redundant in a few years’ time, and is there a way for farmers to cope in the modern market?

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Questions You Need to Ask Your Food

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Questions You Need to Ask Your Food

Food is now a worldwide, connected, and hugely profitable business to get in. For the consumer, however, that isn’t always good news. Corporations are not unknown to make choices that aren’t always the best for the people supporting them by buying their goods. With our food, that becomes less of an annoyance and more a danger. For that reason, you should be ready and willing to ask some more questions of what you eat.

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The Robo-Farm: How Technology Is Changing Agriculture

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Image/Wikimedia

Image/Wikimedia

Humans first started farming over 12,000 years ago, and ever since then we’ve been looking for ways to make it easier and more efficient. Even today, with the colossal size of the agriculture sector, projects are in the works that will change the way we farm forever. Here are just a few of the ways technology is changing agriculture…

The Robo-Farm

We’re just beginning to see the infancy of applied artificial intelligence, and the imminent wave of new, smart machines is set to revolutionise the way farmers grow crops through targeted inputs. While this niche has yet to really take off, it’s predicted that agricultural robots will perform a number of different tasks necessary for running a farm, such as driving tractors and combines, weeding, fruit picking and disease control. One UK project is developing 3D cameras which can be used to tell when broccoli is ready for harvest, which will have a key role in agricultural automation in the future. Just like every industry, the agricultural sector is set to become less and less dependent on human labour.

Smart Water

The agriculture industry accounts for a massive proportion of all the fresh water use in the world, but over half of this is wasted. However, emerging technologies will be able to mitigate this issue through warning farmers of leaks and equipment failure as soon as they happen, and allowing them to control component such as water pumps and flow meters for irrigation systems remotely. Remote-controlled water pumps are already being used in India, and has enabled thousands of farmers to minimise water and travel costs by controlling their irrigation from a mobile phone. A number of blueberry farms in Chile have also begun using a similar system to reduce waste and the cost of farming.

Farming from the Air

Drones are everywhere these days, and are gradually finding more and more applications in industries such as construction and agriculture. Some manufacturers have even begun to develop drones designed specifically for agriculture. These are equipped with software that allows them to capture high-res photos of crop fields, analyse the health of the crops, and generate prompts for important farming decisions. There are other projects in the works intending to create drones capable of seeding trees in massive volumes over a short space of time. Many experts believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg for agricultural drone applications.

The Smart Cow

Smart wearables are set to have a major impact on livestock management, from tracking their location to monitoring vital signs. There are farmers out there who already use this kind of tech to monitor the health of pregnant cattle, determine milking frequencies, and watch for the signs of disease symptoms. However, these medical systems are still in their infancy. Simple tracking software is much more common, with satellite collar-based systems being used in many farms across the developed world. This allows a farmer to pinpoint the location of an animal, and see exactly where it’s traveling on a digitized map.

 

Home Cooking: The Key To Healthy Eating

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Home Cooking: The Key To Healthy Eating

Are you on a health drive? Are you keen to improve your diet? If so, cooking at home is one of the best places to start. When you buy meals from a supermarket, or you order food from a restaurant or takeout, you don’t really know what you’re eating. When you assume control in the kitchen, you have a lot more say over what’s going into your body. If you’re a novice chef, here are some tips to get you started.

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Keeping Your Small Farm Secure

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Keeping Your Small Farm Secure

Farms are very expensive investments, even if you’re operating one for hobby purposes instead of being a business. You might have a farm because you want a sustainable way to feed your family with fresh food, or perhaps you’ve been interested in agriculture since you were young and you’ve wanted to start a farm for educational purposes. Whatever the reason, farms can cost a lot of money, so it makes sense that we need to protect our investments with whatever tools and services are at our disposal.

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Land on Your Feet with These Profitable Ideas

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Land on Your Feet with These Profitable Ideas

When you own land, there are hundreds of ways you can use it to make a profit. While this can be a great opportunity to do what you want, considering a range of options is often a necessity. Many landowners can struggle to make money from just one source of income, such as growing crops or raising livestock. Diversifying your business and using your land in a number of different ways can help you not just to stay afloat but to make sure that you're financially comfortable. There are big and small ways to make money from your land, with more opportunities available the more land you have. Consider all these ways that your land can enable you to make a profit.

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Agricultural Advances: Top Ways to Improve Your Farm

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Agricultural Advances: Top Ways to Improve Your Farm

Running a business in the agricultural sector can be tricky, and trying to run a farm is one the trickiest of all. You can put so much focus on keeping things ticking over that you forget that there are other things that need to be done. Below, you’ll find top ways to advance your farm and turn into something more profitable and more forward-thinking. So, get ready to move your business into the future today.

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