Into the agricultural future with 5G and smart farming
5G is more than just high-speed internet for smooth streaming on smartphones: farmers in particular will benefit from the fifth generation of mobile communications - as the smart farming project shows.
The project consortium at the first project meeting in April 2022 at the Ihinger Hof test station
As part of the federal government's 5G innovation competition, the district of Böblingen, together with seven project partners, successfully applied for funding for a pilot project for 5G expansion in the region. The project "5G-PreCiSe - 5G Pilot Region for Cloud Infrastructure, Smart Farming & Efficient Fertilization in the District of Böblingen" was awarded the contract. With around four million euros in funding, 5G-supported, innovative solutions for resource-conserving and sustainable agriculture in the conurbation can now be developed.
"I am delighted to have been awarded the contract," said District Administrator Roland Bernhard. "Of the 67 concepts funded nationwide, ten are from Baden-Württemberg, one of which is ours. A great and forward-looking project that can form the basis for the precise application of agricultural processing methods."
District Administrator Roland Bernhard
The 5G-PreCiSe pilot project aims to show how precision farming systems and processes can be networked in real time using 5G. This will provide farmers with a previously unthinkable information basis for critical decisions that they can currently often only make intuitively. To this end, the latest 5G technology and innovative data processing for the use of fertilizers are being tested on the test fields of the Ihinger Hof near Renningen.
Using resources more efficiently
The Böblingen district (Office for Agriculture and Nature Conservation and the Böblingen District Centre for Digitization - ZD.BB GmbH), the University of Hohenheim, Reutlingen University with the Herman Hollerith Centre, Robert Bosch GmbH, Rauch Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Seeburger AG, Advancing Individual Networks - AIN GmbH are involved in the project.
Using 5G technology, various environmental, plant and soil data can be recorded in real time, processed more quickly and merged with other information. The knowledge gained in this way is received by the tractor and agricultural machinery at the same time and enables specific fertilization tailored to actual requirements and area. The "5G-PreCiSe" project aims to use resources more efficiently with the help of 5G-based intelligent fertilization. Saving fertilizer and fuel not only benefits farmers, but also the environment and the climate in particular.
Cutting costs with 5G technology
Smart fertilization" serves as an exemplary use case and is to be transferred to other areas of agriculture. In addition to active resource protection, the project also focuses on the agricultural structure prevailing in the district. Up to now, the digitalization of farms has often been associated with a high investment in technology. This means that it is often not profitable for small farms, such as those in the Böblingen district. The development of 5G-based technology is intended to reduce investment costs. Farms can use a 5G network to outsource computing-intensive tasks via the 5G network instead of performing them locally on the implements or tractors.
The Office for Agriculture and Nature Conservation and the Böblingen District Centre for Digitalization have been involved in testing the use case on the Ihinger Hof test fields from the very beginning. Users are involved in the process from the very beginning. This promotes the spread of 5G technology in the agricultural sector and the expansion of pioneering technology in the district.
"Precision" becomes "smart"
The project is based on precision farming. This refers to the precise application of fertilizers and pesticides based on data that is recorded digitally and individually for each area. Data is collected using sensors and satellite-based positioning. It includes, for example, soil properties, yield potential and plant conditions within a parcel of land. "Smart Farming" builds on this technology. The data collected is combined with other information and evaluated. This enables farmers to make more fact-based decisions, such as the amount of fertilizer to apply, the time of harvest or crop rotation. At the same time, digitalization helps with documentation requirements and quality assurance.
