Sustainable Agriculture
Agriculture Technology

How IoT Contributes to Sustainable Agriculture

Every April 22nd is Earth Day which marks a celebration of our planet, the importance of reducing individual carbon footprints, and keeping human activity ecologically balanced with the environment. While the concept of sustainable agriculture has existed for decades, it has become more relevant as farmers and agribusinesses begin focusing on ways to improve efficiency and optimize production. Here's a look at how IoT is helping pave the way for more sustainable farming.


Rise of Sustainable Agriculture

Plants need fertile soil with a balanced level of minerals and frequent watering for optimal growth. The key for transforming to more efficient farming practices is installing smart sensors in fields to detect crop conditions. This real-time data can alert farmers when cultivation problems occur relating to temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors that affect plant health. By knowing the level of moisture and nutrients already in the ground, farmers can coordinate fieldwork and distribute resources with as little waste as possible. The practice of sustainable agriculture coupled with IoT sensor technology provides solutions that save both time and money.


Issues and Challenges to Feed a Growing Population

Even though the agricultural industry feeds the world, it has also contributed to climate change due to emissions from farm equipment that releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Additional farming activities such as the application of pesticides and distribution of synthetic fertilizers also contributes to man-made nitrous oxide emissions.

Other challenges facing farmers due to climate changes have to do with drought conditions and the creation of heat tolerance crops. One result of research and development for dealing with this issue has produced drought-tolerant corn, which helps minimizes crop losses.


Land Limitations

Only so much land is available for agricultural purposes and what exists must be protected to ensure the soil remains viable and free of contaminants. Smart technology has solutions for both of these issues through the ability to detect the presence of unwanted chemicals in the ground, as well as monitoring for the favorable conditions that lead to improved crop yields.


Digital Evolution of Agriculture

As a fast-growing technological solution, digitization of agriculture is attracting big investors. AgTech startups, for example, raised $4.7 billion in 2019 after a 370 percent growth rate over six years. While this growth might not get much media coverage, it reflects widespread expansion of startups in the agricultural industry aimed at sustainability.


IoT and Sustainable Farming

Smart Irrigation - The use of IoT sensors in crop fields allows for more efficient water distribution, reducing wasted water. Farming equipment manufacturer John Deere has created machine data as a service to supplement its tractors used for irrigation, along with spraying and harvesting.

Drone Assistance - Drones can be used in farming to monitor and gather data on crops from the air. Because farmers have so much land to cover, drones can help alleviate the need for time consuming surveys by foot. Agricultural drones can use advanced image data analytics to identify problems with irrigation, pest infestation, and soil variation.

Greener Greenhouses - Modern greenhouses can be made greener by using solar power and sensors that monitor temperature, humidity, energy, and water consumption. The use of these smart devices will lead to greater conservation of resources in a more eco-friendly manner.

Big Data - At the core of digital transformation is the ability to collect data generated by RFID sensors placed throughout a field. As crops are harvested, irrigation water can be continuously tested with sensors to determine if it is free from E. coli and other contaminants. This tracking may contribute to reducing the number of illnesses caused by foodborne pathogens.


Future of Digitized Agriculture

The use of IoT technology in agriculture will increase as farming embraces smart technology to monitor, protect, and expand crop yields. The implementation of precision agriculture has the ability to positively impact many facets of traditional farming. All over the world, farms will benefit from processes that help reduce waste and preserve resources.


Conclusion

Digital transformation is creating a clear path for sustainable agriculture, which will play an increasingly important role in making food production more efficient with less damage to the environment. The shift towards more data-centric methods with the ability to make adjustments in real-time empowers farmers to revolutionize their methods to be able to do more with less.


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Qualifying Leads
Lead Generation

3 Ways to Enhance the Process of Qualifying Leads with AI and Personalization

In business, success can be tied to several factors. But the efficiency of generating and qualifying leads can make or break your company. Therefore, companies tend to be aggressive with lead generation efforts to power the sales pipeline.

In the era of the internet and AI, businesses can now use integrated marketing tools that simplify lead generation and enhance customer engagement.

If you want to improve your lead qualification efforts, these three tips can help you get ahead.


1. Identification and Assessment of New Leads

For many businesses in this connected age, digitization has greatly improved the process of qualifying leads. But this has also raised the bar. Generating new leads is a labor-intensive task that most companies eschew unless there's a diminished flow in their pipelines.

AI has changed that by offering seamless means of generating new leads without using lots of marketing resources. Artificial intelligence marketing software now provides solutions that gather existing customer data to enhance methods of qualifying leads. It also provides pre-qualified leads that marketing teams can use for lead nurturing.

Most companies rely on multiple channels to gather prospective leads, but manual validation and qualifying leads can be daunting. When you leverage AI capabilities, it's easier to validate the information against several credible channels and create a much more accurate prospects list. This means you'll be focusing on leads with a high conversion potential rather than spending time on cold leads that have a lesser chance of converting.

However, this approach of qualifying leads is best deployed when used with other AI customer engagement solutions. The ultimate objective is to have a fully-automated process of qualifying leads that result in more closed sales.


2. Embrace Adaptive Cadence and Treat Contacts Like Individuals

At least 53% of businesses still struggle with customer engagement despite developing great content and identifying appropriate timing for communication. Most messages are often left unattended, while others get lost amidst conversations. Almost all traditional customer engagement tools can schedule conversations, but this may not be enough in a rapidly evolving market.

AI-driven lead generation solutions can drive conversations based on engagement history and timing. Each lead is considered individually, and messages are personalized according to portrayed behaviors or responses. As a result, adaptive cadence in customer engagement can lead to increased response rates and lead conversions.

Several years ago, automated emails sent in bulk used to work well. But today, customers consider automated messaging spam. Marketing teams must consider every buyer individually, hence the need to personalize and contextualize each interaction.


3. Leverage Predictive Metrics and Analytics

Using available data to improve your customer engagement strategy can lead to more sales. But this requires rigorous testing and metrics analysis.

While most marketers use AI to drive and enhance customized interactions, the technology can accomplish so much more. Besides gathering and compiling marketing metrics for qualifying leads, AI-driven tools help marketing teams gain insightful analytics with practical applications.

Practical CRM tools will monitor, collect, and adjust the metrics for accurate analytics. Most importantly, they can flag any data point that would be vital to your marketing strategy. Armed with appropriate metrics, sales and marketing teams can draft creative and more effective plans for better customer engagement.

Additionally, with access to customer data and insights, you can build accurate customer profiles or personas based on different habits and behaviors. Consequently, great profiles can help you in qualifying leads by predicting the needs of prospects. This feature can be vital to sales teams as it assists in the process of qualifying leads before initiating a conversation. Unlike the case with blind prospecting, your team can then customize pitches and gain a better chance at converting more leads.


Final Words

Artificial intelligence has created lucrative opportunities for savvy marketers and businesses as AI-powered solutions can be leveraged to simplify the process of qualifying leads and personalizing customer engagement. And while there is still more to be expected in the future, companies have multiple options to choose from now.

If you’re curious to learn more about how to enhance your marketing processes, IoT Marketing offers a variety of solutions that can help you stay ahead of your competition. Get in touch to schedule a free discovery call with our team.


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