Land O ’ Lakes is investing millions in agricultural technology to help farmers produce more food , with fewer resources and less environmental impact .
In 1930 , one farmer fed 10 people . Today , one farmer feeds 155 people . In 2050 , one farmer will need to feed 250 people .
To meet this exploding demand , Land O ’ Lakes , a global leader in precision agriculture , is using cloud technologies to revolutionize modern farming .
A farmer ’ s success is all about making the right decisions .
From when to plant seeds , to where and how much to water and fertilize , farmers have always been faced with a litany of decisions . Teddy Bekele , VP IT at Land O ’ Lakes explains , “ Most farmers need to make 40 major decisions throughout their crop ’ s growing cycle . These 40 turn into about 200 smaller decision points , all of which impact the success of a crop .”
Traditionally , farmers based their decisions largely off intuition . Today however , cloud , IoT , and big data technologies are efficiently capturing , ingesting and analyzing data from multiple sources simultaneously , arming farmers with the realtime data they need to make more informed decisions . Better farming decisions translate to larger yields with fewer resources .
More mouths , fewer resources .
The United Nations estimates that by 2050 , the world ’ s population will reach 10 billion . The same study highlights that by as soon as 2030 , global water demand will outstrip supply by 40 %. Given the scarcity of water , arable land , and other input resources , a farmer ’ s ability to sustainably improve yields will be critical to feeding future generations .
Land O ’ Lakes is investing millions in agricultural technology to help farmers produce more food , with fewer resources and less environmental impact .
34 | THE DOPPLER | SPRING 2016