A conversation I’ve had with people in recent is years is talking about why sensor technologies have failed in the past. Why haven't they been more highly adopted?

Up to this point, a lot of had to do with return on investment. For the most part, sensor technologies were relatively disconnected, so to speak, and a farmer could spend $20,000 on an optical sensor platform for a sprayer, but it didn’t relay data outside of the sprayer so it really only had a singular function.

It's hard to get ROI when you can only use the sensor technology for one thing. But things have changed thanks to the internet of things and connectivity being more accessible. It's really breathing new life into sensor technologies since some of the first ones came out more than a decade ago.

We've improved the process and it’s actually gotten cheaper to make them. We're now seeing entire connected farms getting sensors to deliver all that data seamlessly to the cloud and then back to the tractor to sprayer. But there’s also direct local area network machine-to-machine communication.

Whether it's ag drones, a four-wheeler in the field or a guy on a bike driving through the field. That sensor is relaying is data back to the sprayer where it needs to go, and providing agronomic input.

Hear more from Dr. Ray Asebedo in our Strip-Till Farmer podcast series, sponsored by Topcon Agriculture.