Arduino-ponics
By Morgan Brand
The world is heading towards a global food crisis in that there will be more people on earth ( +-9 billion) in 2050 than there have ever been. Furthermore, the food needed to feed this growing population will require that we produce more food in the next 40 years than has been produced on earth in all human history. The Food and Health Organization has on numerous occasion highlighted the importance of small scale farmers as a necessity in reaching the projected increase in food production required. This is promising for the rural communities particularly those in Africa however, the expectations set on them requires that they are able to jump over the developmental learning curve typically required of modern technology and will be expected to do this with very little access to the modern world. It is proposed that an interconnected network of small farmers which make use of open source tools such as Arduino and the Raspberry Pi would be able to transmit high quality data to centralized agricultural hubs where expert panels are able to monitor and advise. The progression into the digital age where the Internet of Things can assist a rural farmer will aid in the continued production of in a sustainable way.
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