Digital Villages: A Data-Driven Approach to Precision Agriculture in Small Farms

Abstract

An approach for system monitoring of smallholder farms. The system will be based on low-cost mobile units (i.e. IoTs, phones) collecting and transmitting data directly from the farms. The IoT information will be merged with available and free access satellite data to form near real-time thematic images to the end-users. It will serve people with low technical literacy who are working with smallholders in developing countries. The novelty of using an integrated interdisciplinary behavioral-technological approach that builds on our respective disciplinary expertise, and the ability to pilot and implement at scale through partnerships, on the ground, allowing gaining new insights into smallholder cultivation and revolutionizing agricultural extension in the developing world. To achieve that goal of Holistic Integrated Precision Agriculture Network (HIPAN) three networks have been established in experimental farms in India: wireless network for “on-the-ground” sensing, virtual network with satellite multispectral imaging-based data and social network collecting the farmers’ inputs. The three networks are fused together and the data is processed using a cloud supported data analysis; the results are visually transferred to the farmers as well as to organizations and companies for their