Why is open-source technology so important in Agritech and smart farming?
Unlike domestic Smart Home devices and technologies, Smart Farming will see less generic or commoditised devices. There will be a lot less ‘connected’ Seeders being sold than home entertainment systems. Even the largest of agricultural equipment manufacturers simply don’t have the budgets, the expertise or the demand for making thier products IoT ready.
When and if they do it will be imperative they adhere to open standards with interoperability and communication, much as they already do with tractor linkages and hydraulics standards.
This is where open-source technology shines. Not only is open-source technology by nature more aligned to openness it has the added advantage of being more flexible in its implementation and having a much lower cost. I was surprised to see one such open-source technology community consisting primarily of farmers who were building their own microprocessor controlled devices along with hacking them into their tractors with customised actuators. This involved skills in programming, system design, mechanical and electrical engineering and farming. The internet was born from open-source technology and its still runs on it today. Knowledge is power.
Image of smart home network.
I am currently using three open-source technologies to automate my farm. Arduino, HomeAssitant and ESPHome. The beauty of this is I have almost all my connected devices either controlled directly or passing data into my farm automation hub. Some of this is gimmick, but much of it is truly useful. Even just for human decision making such as ‘Is the pool too cold to get into’ or ‘do we start implementing 4 minute showers’.