Smart agriculture

When you hear “smart agriculture,” the first thing that comes to mind is fields with drones and fully autonomous greenhouses. But in practice, it often comes down to simple things: for example, how to make old irrigation systems work with basic humidity sensors. I remember in 2022, we at Shandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology LLC were faced with a project where the customer required “full automation”, but his team did not know how to calibrate pH meters. This gap between expectations and actual skills is the main problem of the industry.

What's Really Hidden Behind Smart Technologies?

Marketing aside,smart agriculture— this is primarily about integration. It’s not about buying an expensive sensor, but about how it will work with the existing infrastructure. We had a case in the Krasnodar region: a farmer installed a soil monitoring system, but did not take into account that the local calcareous soils quickly damage the electrodes. We had to redo the entire project from scratch, add additional filters and change the location of the sensors.

By the way, about filters - this is a separate pain. Many people underestimate how water quality affects the entire system. In our projects, we always insist on preliminary water analysis, even if the client considers it unnecessary. Once in the Rostov region they saved money at this stage, and after three months the drip irrigation failed due to carbonate deposits.

And one more thing: automation is not always about the complete exclusion of humans. Most often, the optimal solution is hybrid systems, where critical processes are controlled by technology, but humans have the final say. For example, in greenhouse complexes near Voronezh, we left the option of manually adjusting the watering regime - and as it turned out, this more than once saved the harvest during sudden weather changes.

Equipment: what works and what just looks nice

Over the years, we have tried dozens of solutions forintegration of water and fertilizers. The most stable results are shown by systems with modular architecture - when you can replace a single unit without rebuilding the entire network. In our catalog at https://www.lyzhihuinongye.ru we specifically focus on this, because we know: farmers often expand their farms gradually.

Frequency converters are a completely different story. Many colleagues make the same mistake: they put them everywhere they can. But in practice, for most Russian farms it is enough to equip only key components with them - for example, main pumps. Savings on low-power pumps can reach 40%, but on the rest - no more than 10-15%.

Remote controlled valves would seem like a small thing. But they are the ones that most often become the bottleneck. We at Shandong Linyao LLC first worked with imported samples, but encountered problems adapting to Russian conditions. We had to develop our own modifications with enhanced protection against temperature changes.

Design: where theory diverges from practice

When we first starteddesign of hydraulic structures, they thought that the main thing was accurate calculations. It turned out that field work is no less important. component: for example, how equipment will approach objects, where to place control panels so that they do not flood during rainstorms. One of our first projects in the Stavropol region almost failed precisely because of such little things - we had to quickly move distribution nodes.

Csmart agricultural parkseven more interesting. Many customers immediately want “like in Holland”, but do not take into account climatic features. We always suggest starting with pilot zones - for example, automating 2-3 hectares, testing the technology, and then scaling it up. This approach has saved more than one of our projects from major financial losses.

Speaking of losses, in 2021 we underestimated the importance of local staff training. We installed a modern system in one of the farms in the Belgorod region, but a month later we received complaints about “not working”. When we arrived, the operators were simply afraid to press the buttons, believing that they would break the expensive equipment. Now we include mandatory training in Russian with simple instructions in each project.

Field Tests: Failures That Taught More Than Successes

The most valuable information often comes from failures. In 2020 we tested an automatic watering system forhigh quality agricultural fieldsin the Voronezh region. The hope was that the humidity sensors would optimally regulate watering. But they didn’t take wind erosion into account—soil particles clogged the sensors and the readings got lost. We had to develop special casings, which increased the cost of the project by 12%, but the system has been working stably for the third year.

Another illustrative case: they tried to introduce “smart” lighting in the greenhouse complex. The theory said that this would increase productivity. In practice, it turned out that without precise tuning of the spectral composition, the economic effect is almost zero. We had to delve deeper into agronomy and consult with photosynthesis specialists - now this experience helps us offer more balanced solutions.

Sometimes problems arise where you least expect them. For example, one recent project encountered wireless sensors interfering with an existing security system. We had to revise the entire communication protocol, but now we have a ready-made solution for such cases.

Looking to the Future: Where the Industry is Really Heading

If we talk about trends, the main thing is not the technologies themselves, but their availability. Five years ago, an automatic irrigation system was a luxury for large farms; now farmers with 50-100 hectares can afford it. We at Shandong Lingyao LLC specially develop simplified kits for small businesses - without unnecessary functions, but reliable and easy to maintain.

Another important point is the compatibility of equipment from different manufacturers. Previously, everyone did their own thing, now there is a request for open standards. We are gradually moving to modular platforms, where the client can combine our developments with equipment from other brands - this is more difficult to support, but gives more flexibility.

And lastly: despite all the technological progress, agriculture remains a territory of compromise. The most successful projects are not those where all the “smart” ones are implemented. functions, but those where a balance is found between cost, complexity and real return. As practice shows, sometimes a simple system with 3-4 automated processes brings more benefits than an overloaded with technology but unstable design.