Due to Covid-19 pandemic, world stopped for a moment, an instant which is taking an eternity for many enterprises. In the lasts months, the agricultural sector has been strongly tested in the change of everyday life habitudes and especially for what concerns the working ones. Different agricultural entrepreneurs are wondering the same question: How much it costs to not be able to guarantee constancy in the field management and culture cultivation? Considering the lack of workforce, which is characterising this period, what can I do in order to finish the different working phases in the correct terms?
This historical period, which we will remember in the coming years, can’t be faced with normal and routine interventions. It is necessary to bring out the adaptability which has always distinguished the agricultural sector to face a new and progressing situation. It’s not that easy stay efficient, but it is possible. The choice for different possibilities can be even a productive and constructive experience.
The result, in this exceptional scenery, is that agricultural sector does not stop: it answers to the emergency putting in place new ideas and trusting avant-garde technologies. Everything is done respecting the new rules entered into force to guard health of all people involved. Here are some examples of how agriculture sector’ enterprises are moving.
1) Websites for Job Research in the Fields
In order to face the unemployment caused by Coronavirus, different websites are born all around the world. These platforms connect the agricultural enterprises to people with different working experiences backgrounds, but with a single goal in common: to help one another. In fact, these websites permit to students, redundant workers and so, unemployed people to perceive a money income in these difficult moments, helping the agricultural enterprises to bring forward their field activity. A place of virtual meeting, but definitely efficient to face workforce lack. These online campaigns are bringing a large amount of results and a big will of collaboration came immediately. For further information the suggestion is to address to the category’s associations.
2) Automatic Machines for Agricolture
The agricultural enterprises who are not able to find workforce, are trusting new technologies to finish the necessary operation for their cultures.
Preparing the field, seeding, collecting fruits saving time is still an advantage not to be overlooked in this period when every single minute is important. There are agricultural machines, suitable to every phase of the productive cycle, that thanks to their advanced technologies are able to reduce both number of hours worked both use of labour force. The ‘secret’? Automation. Letting the machine do an operation requires less time compared to do the same operation manually, increasing the precision. The advantage, then, multiplies if the same machine can do more operations in the same passage. In these cases, the workforce is no more an active part of the operations, but a support to the machine involved in the majority of the activities.
Who would not like a machine which passes through the field once, making a perfect and hight quality work controlled by only one operator?
A lot of enterprises use these solutions long ago and others are putting them in action today for the first time to face the Coronavirus emergency. Let’s see some examples of these solutions:
- The automatic trasplanters appropriate for a large variety of cultivations, lays seedlings on more rows, requiring just one operator who controls the activity.
- The automatic weeders for the elimination of weeds from the ground, rightly equipped, do more operations in one only step (identification and elimination of the weed both among rows both on the same row. Aeration of the ground).
3) Drones for cultures control
Also, the use of drones is increasing in this period. Having a more technological support on the field can save time to people that can finally focus on to other activities.
Have you never observed a drone guarding hectares of cultivated grounds? The wing drone with automatic control is a real ‘controller from the sky’. During its trip, flyby the grounds, explores and makes sure that everything is normal. Anomalies as weeds, parasites, and hydric lacks switch on the alarm which is transmitted to the agriculture enterprise in real time.
Another useful support offered by drones in this situation is that one of making more efficient the yield management. Just think of possibilities to create a real health reports of the field after summer storm, or check the water draining in all points, till to the control of seeding in order to value its homogeneity. In agriculture, drones also reach where the human eye cannot reach.
Conclusion
The crisis due to Covid-19 is strongly testing also agriculture. Change of everyday life habitudes is not that easy, especially for what concerns the working ones for which reach the right balance has been so hard. Each entrepreneur of success is aware about that crisis period has two souls: one of difficulty and one of opportunities. The enterprises of the agricultural sector are showing their own inclination toward the opportunity, not giving up but forcing themselves to find alternative solutions to satisfy their own needs.
If needed further information, contact us! Ferrari Growtech team will be pleased to give you the right answers.