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In this episode of Stories from xFarmers, we introduce Deborah Piovan, an agricultural entrepreneur for about 25 years. In addition to being a farmer, Deborah is also involved in science communication especially regarding challenges related to innovation in agriculture.
Today we are on the farm that Deborah runs with her sisters, growing mainly extensive crops such as wheat, soybeans and sugar beets, but also specialized horticultural crops such as peas for fresh industrial consumption and peanuts.
Being a farmer today means facing several challenges.
Climate change is already here, and on the farm we have been noticing it for a few years now, especially in the tendency to have higher temperatures than we once had and the difficulty in having reliable rainfall close to the historical average.
The challenge this year, as is well known, has been the lack of water: it has rained little, snowed little, so there has been little water available.
Another challenge facing today's farmer is that of environmental sustainability, that is, being able to effectively and efficiently manage the factors of production that have an impact on the environment so as to be as sustainable as possible.
To meet these challenges, we have two powerful tools at our disposal: genetic improvement-enhancing plants and their performance and sustainability-and digital. Digital enables, with decision support systems, the efficient use of inputs.
Here at the farm, we have installed a weather station to collect all weather data and use it for our predictions on disease development, insects and plant health. In addition, we have installed soil moisture measurement probes that tell us whether the plant needs to be watered or not.
When water is scarce, being able to have accurate and timely information from the field is very important to use it efficiently.
During wheat harvesting, by combining satellite images with information gathered from the agro-meteorological control unit, we more easily determined which plots were most ready to be harvested and thus more accurately directed the combine in the field.
I would recommend the use of xFarm to fellow farmers as a decision support system for managing their farms, collecting and processing data.
In the future we will implement other sensors offered by xFarm, particularly to install them on machines and equipment operating in the field
They would allow us to monitor consumption and collect data that will make it easier for us to control thus becoming more efficient in business management.
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