When you think of farming, you probably think of people toiling in fields, harvesting crops with tractors, shaving the wool off of sheep, lugging bales into the warehouse, and heading to bed at the end of a long day completely exhausted.
You’re probably also aware that the cost of running a farm tends to outweigh the profit made off of it, meaning the tremendous amount of work that’s required takes a long time to pay off! This balance can put a lot of people off of starting farming businesses of their own.
However, with a modern approach to farming in place, generating income off of the agricultural sector has become much more accessible. Modern tech like AI and new farming techniques have revitalized the industry in recent years, and new farmers have a better chance of long term success.
Let’s see how we can adopt modern approach to farming:
1. Making the Most of Small Spaces
Even the smallest of smallholdings can make money off of their land! Indeed, with practices like vertical farming, there’s a new focus on farming upwards, rather than outwards.
Less land to farm, less upkeep to pay for, and less wildlife disturbed. At the same time, more time and money for the farmer and their workers – techniques like these are a win-win!
2. Using Tech to Take Records
One of the most time consuming elements of keeping a farm is taking records. You have to track each and every seed you plant, animals you buy, offspring that are birthed, produce that’s packaged and sold, and you have to keep these records up to date at all times. That’s a lot of hard work, especially if you have expansive acreage.
That’s where farming tech is really changing the game. When it comes to the use of technology in agriculture, your monthly admin has never been so easy! These days you can use software to track all your incomings and outgoings, including any animals that die or get ill/injured, and any crops that fail to grow or go bad after being harvested. Determining expense versus profit is now a much more convenient thing to spend your time on.
3. Enhancing Biodiversity
Biodiversity is on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment. In recent years agricultural efforts have led to a sharp downturn in native plant and species populations, and the annual deforestation rate has never looked so severe. But with a biodiversity focus, we can ‘regenerate’ the land and leave it better than we found it.
In the farming world, this mostly means keeping the soil healthy and rich with nutrients. To do this, most farmers are now turning their hand to grow as many different plants as possible and prevent some fields from being worked on. This is something the government itself encourages, with a new program in place to pay farmers to leave parts of their land untouched.
A modern approach to farming is saving the agricultural landscape. Changes are taking place and both businesses and the environment are benefiting from them.
