A Comprehensive review on technological breakthroughs in precision agriculture: IoT and emerging data analytics

Rapid population expansion has led to a corresponding rise in the demand for sustenance. Researchers have found that traditional agricultural practices are insufficient to meet the demands of commodities, and their inefficiency poses the most pressing obstacle to addressing the growing global food demand. Precision agriculture (PA) is an advanced hierarchy farming system supported by multidisciplinary technologies such as specialized sensors, communication protocols, algorithms, and management tools, helping mitigate the problems of conventional farming by ensuring maximum production and minimum wastage. Given the rapid evolution of the aforementioned multidisciplinary technologies, this review paper analyzed 24337 research documents from 1938 to April 2024 using bibliographical software from the Scopus dataset. Internet of Things (IoT), Agriculture Robots (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are currently driving ongoing research, with frequency occurrences of 12.245, 8.259, and 7.791, highlighting the trend towards interconnected farming systems and data-driven automated systems. Bibliographical evidence indicates the current utilization of AI, AR, and IoT for accurate assessments like crop yield prediction, disease and weed detection, and soil analysis. Additionally, China is the most productive country in terms of publication, while the United States leads in terms of patents. This review paper also explores emerging trends that could guide future research, including blockchain technology, big data analysis, computing paradigms, and drone technology. Subsequently, a PA framework has been suggested to facilitate innovation in this field, followed by the open issues, highlighting the ongoing concerns related to insufficient infrastructure, integration, cost, and security measures, with the aim to engage all stakeholders.