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DEL.ICIO.USWould you try farming by remote control?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roswell and agricultural technology seem to have a long history. After all, it wasn’t farming that gave rise to the city, but the cotton mills.
Now, a Roswell company that specializes in bringing broadband to the boonies has partnered with a Lilburn company to commercialize methods of using technology to automate farm work.
Camvera Networks recently demonstrated an early version of the tools at the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition in Moultrie. This incarnation allows workers at three testing facilities and one working farm to measure the moisture content and temperature of their soils, key indicators for farmers, said Camvera co-founder John Overly.
Eventually, the company’s technology partner, Presoft Ag Solutions, hopes to offer tools that will allow farmers to start and stop irrigation systems from anywhere in the world using a Web-enabled desktop, laptop or even PDA. They would also be able to use video cameras to monitor activity in fields, and deploy tractor-mounted tools to precisely plant crop rows and harvest crops more efficiently.
Such tools could help farmers reduce water and energy usage, among other things, Overly said.
Camvera’s primary role is in developing the infrastructure to tie the technologies together and make remote data access possible, Overly said.
Demonstration projects are ongoing at the USDA National Research Peanut Lab in Dawson, the Agricultural Innovation Center in Tifton and a private farm.
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