Technological Innovations that are Changing the Face of Saudi Farming

The next wave of agriculture in the Kingdom will no longer depend on traditional practices of simply applying water, fertilizers, and pesticides uniformly across fields and farm areas. Instead, farmers and agricultural practices will get greater yields and healthier produce despite using minimum quantities. It will also be possible to grow crops in arid and dry areas. If you’re wondering how – take note. Technological integrations across agriculture are set to revolutionize the industry. The use of technology means that farms will be run very differently in the future. They will be more connected, automated, and informed through sensors, devices, machines, and IT that can deliver more precisely and efficiently. This means that farms such as yours stand to become more profitable, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly. Technological innovations in farming methodologies are opening smarter delivery systems and avenues for agricultural organizations.

Controlled Environment Agriculture

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a system of farming that regulates certain aspects of the environment including temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, light, and nutrient concentration in order to reduce pests and plant disease. CEA farming also increases efficiencies, crop yields, and is a more sustainable way of farming. Combining technologies like solar panels for energy efficiency, low-energy desiccant cooling, salt-tolerant edible plants, and algal biotechnology to CEA, farms can create new-generation green complexes that have the potential to produce up to 20 times the amount of crop as compared to a similar-sized soil plot. In Saudi, controlled environment agriculture applications include the following:

Vertical Farming

Vertical farming is crop production that grows plants in horizontal tall towers or trays often stacked up to 30 tiers high. Vertical farms use aeroponics to mist the roots of greens with nutrients, water, and oxygen, where the system runs in a closed loop. It pays to note that aeroponic irrigation uses 95% less water than field farming and 40% less than hydroponics. Stacked agricultural farms also allow for greater monitoring of all the macro and micronutrients, enabling crops to grow in half the time as compared to in-field plants. By intersecting horticulture with engineering, food safety, data science, and nutrition, you can monitor millions of data points at every harvest. What’s more, vertical farms allow integration with machine vision, machine learning, and IoT, enabling you to take your agricultural enterprise into the future. Vertical farms also allow for controlled seeding, germinating, growing, and harvesting, where every aspect of the growing process has been optimized to minimize and mitigate pest proliferation.

Whilst everything about the indoor environment is governed by sensors and automation, the crucial ingredient in controlled environment vertical farms is artificial lighting. All vertical farms operating today use a type of LED lighting determined by plant requirements and need. For example, leafy greens and other vegetative crops prefer blue-spectrum lighting, whereas fruiting and flowering crops prefer the red spectrum of lighting. Each variety of plants has its own tailored lighting recipe that allows them to photosynthesize for longer periods of the day — up to 18 hours at a time. In practical terms, this means that your crop yields increase. In fact, internationally, vertical farming has been proven to produce 75 times more food per square foot than traditional farming. Whilst most farming enterprises in the region are currently concentrating on producing perishable goods such as salad vegetables (crops that traditionally require large amounts of water), vertical farming experts believe that even staples like potatoes and wheat could eventually be grown indoors in the Kingdom.

Greenhouses

Greenhouses are large glass or polycarbonate structures that strategically use natural lighting to facilitate crop production. By controlling variables like temperature and humidity through pad-and-fan-cooling systems, greenhouse farming in Saudi shows great potential for the sustainable growth of crops. With the automation of irrigation through digitalized systems and the mitigation of temperature extremes through cooling mechanisms, smart greenhouses are enabling farmers like yourself in growing crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and bedding plants. In fact, a 44-hectare greenhouse complex in the Al-Kharj region is shaping the future of greenhouses in Saudi. It has built-in facilities to collect rainwater from the glass greenhouse roof to further facilitate irrigation needs.

Agricultural Automation

The rise of digital agriculture and its related technologies has opened a wealth of new data opportunities. Remote sensors, satellites, and UAVs can gather information 24 hours a day over entire fields and large-scaled areas. Automated agricultural processes can monitor plant health, soil condition, temperature, humidity, etc. The generated data from sensors can help farmers gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground and get them to plan agricultural needs more efficiently.

Remote sensors and digitalized processes As every industry incorporates more digitalization across systems, the agriculture sector in Saudi is also perfectly positioned for digital disruption. By incorporating digital processes like precision agriculture generated through shared data, drones, sensors, and farm management software, you too can raise the level of your farming enterprise. Sensor technologies being used across agriculture have built-in algorithms that allow you to interpret a field’s environment. Generated as statistical data, remote sensors can connect to multiple devices like satellites, weather networks, and cloud systems in real-time. This helps them process, adapt, and learn faster to deliver smarter solutions that can help you make better agricultural decisions.

The digitalization of water can also deliver huge benefits in agricultural management. Sensors in water pipes can pinpoint the site of leaks, helping to speed up repairs. Smart meters can provide valuable data to manage supply and demand. As all these technologies communicate to each other from smart devices connected through a central management system, you have a panoramic view of your whole enterprise. This gives you greater control to make informed decisions.

Drones

Drone technology is expected to give agriculture in Saudi Arabia a high-tech makeover. Their uses across multiple applications can change the way traditional farms operate. By producing 3D maps for early soil analysis, drones can play a role in planning seed planting and in gathering data for managing plant irrigation and nitrogen levels. In fact, seeds planting through drones has shown to reduce costs by 85%. Drones can shoot pods with seeds and nutrients into the soil, faster and more efficiently than human labor. What’s more, drone use for crop spraying and irrigation has shown that aerial spraying is five times faster and more efficient through drones. Crop monitoring and plant health assessments through aerial drone photography and drone-carried scanning devices (through visible and near-infrared light) can help track plant growth, alerting you to deficiencies much faster.

Conclusion

With the country’s population currently estimated at around 37.5 million in 2024, advances in technology are key to the future of Saudi farming. As a part of its larger 2030 Vision, agriculture in the Kingdom is ripe for a transformation with science and technology at its heart. Innovating farms and agricultural practices with sensors, devices, machines, and information technology can make farming businesses more profitable, efficient, safer, and environmentally friendly.

References

• Agri