Farming as a Service (FaaS) offers technologically advanced solutions in the agriculture sector to maximize crop yield & avoid depletion or wastage of natural resources. Farmers can attain these innovative & professional-grade farming solutions either through a subscription or pay-per-use model.
While some agricultural solutions are highly organized & are often the upgrades of existing services, others are technically driven innovations. However, when it comes to FaaS, it is seen as a perfect blend of organized, innovative, upgraded, and tech-driven solutions. Based on these aspects, a recent research report has cited around 15.3% CAGR for the Global Farming as a Service Market during 2021-26.
Digging Deeper into the Model
FaaS constitutes several solutions like farm management, production assistance, access to the market, etc. These solutions enable farmers to attain detailed insights on the status of the soil & equipment while helping them make data-driven decisions & enhance the overall productivity & efficiency in farms.
Farming as a Service is swiftly gaining momentum across different corners of the world due to its numerous benefits. Amongst all advantages, the conversion of fixed initial costs into variable ongoing costs for farmers is a prominent aspect that makes it affordable, even for small farmers. Hence, the adoption of FaaS solutions is rising substantially among farmers. As of now, Farming as a Service is available in subscription & pay-per-use models and bifurcate into the following three categories:
Farm Management: Farming as a Service for farm management majorly covers sharing information, precision farming tools, & analytics for efficient management of information among farmers, governments, financial institutions, corporates, & advisory bodies,among others.
Production assistance: Farming as a Service provides detailed information about the need for different on-site production resources that can help the farmers in enhancing the production.
Access to markets: With the utilization of farming as a service, these solution creates a platform like a virtual market that connects farmers with different suppliers providing inputs like seeds, fertilizers, & other agrochemicals.
Technologies in Farming as a Service
Farming as a Service utilizes several advanced technologies, and the most prominent ones are listed below. Let's have a look to find out more about these technologies & their role in agriculture.
Sensors: farming as a service is taking firm steps toward digitalization & modernization where equipment like sensors help the farmers in scanning the dynamics of soil, enabling the farmers to make insightful decisions based on the information gathered. These sensors are highly effective in identifying the water, humidity, & soil temperature, among other aspects.
Hardware & Software: Farmers are now sufficed with prominent equipment that can be operated using specialized applications and are enabled with the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, robots, etc.
Data Analytics: Farming as a Service also delivers solutions that can gather information and enable the farmers to make decisions & predictions based on the data generated on the analytical tool.
Satellites & Drones: Equipment like Drones are used in farming as a Service principally to gather information from the entire field and deliver it on the cloud for tracking & analyzing the field remotely.
Takeaway
Farming-as-a-Service and the integration of technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, etc., into the agriculture sector is helping farmers in bringing production efficiency & maximizing yield without the wastage of natural resources.
As a result, FaaS is also viewed as the third green revolution in agriculture, referring to the combined application of information & communication technologies, such as drones, robots, sensors, & UAVs, among others. Hence, all the facts stated above indicate the significant growth of the Global Farming as a Service Market in the coming years.