Comparison of Depth-Specific Prediction of Soil Properties: MIR vs. Vis-NIR Spectroscopy.

The prediction of soil properties at different depths is an important research topic for promoting the conservation of black soils and the development of precision agriculture. Mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR, 2500-25000 nm) has shown great potential in predicting soil properties. This study aimed to explore the ability of MIR to predict soil organic matter (OM) and total nitrogen (TN) at five different depths with the calibration from the whole depth (0-100 cm) or the shallow layers (0-40 cm) and compare its performance with visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (vis-NIR, 350-2500 nm). A total of 90 soil samples containing 450 subsamples (0-10 cm, 10-20 cm, 20-40 cm, 40-70 cm, and 70-100 cm depths) and their corresponding MIR and vis-NIR spectra were collected from a field of black soil in Northeast China. Multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) were used to build prediction models. The results showed that prediction models based on MIR (OM: RMSEp = 1.07-3.82 g/kg, RPD = 1.10-5.80; TN: RMSEp = 0.11-0.15 g/kg, RPD = 1.70-4.39) outperformed those based on vis-NIR (OM: RMSEp = 1.75-8.95 g/kg, RPD = 0.50-3.61; TN: RMSEp = 0.12-0.27 g/kg; RPD = 1.00-3.11) because of the higher number of characteristic bands. Prediction models based on the whole depth calibration (OM: RMSEp = 1.09-2.97 g/kg, RPD = 2.13-5.80; TN: RMSEp = 0.08-0.19 g/kg, RPD = 1.86-4.39) outperformed those based on the shallow layers (OM: RMSEp = 1.07-8.95 g/kg, RPD = 0.50-3.93; TN: RMSEp = 0.11-0.27 g/kg, RPD = 1.00-2.24) because the soil sample data of the whole depth had a larger and more representative sample size and a wider distribution. However, prediction models based on the whole depth calibration might provide lower accuracy in some shallow layers. Accordingly, it is suggested that the methods pertaining to soil property prediction based on the spectral library should be considered in future studies for an optimal approach to predicting soil properties at specific depths. This study verified the superiority of MIR for soil property prediction at specific depths and confirmed the advantage of modeling with the whole depth calibration, pointing out a possible optimal approach and providing a reference for predicting soil properties at specific depths.

Construction and application of an applicability evaluation system for garlic planters based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation.

The widespread use of garlic planters has been hampered by the lack of comprehensive applicability evaluation criteria, as their functional and structural designs are sometimes subpar and their purchase and use are not always financially advantageous. In order to close this gap in the applicability evaluation system for garlic planters, a three-level index system based on Technical indicators, Economic indicators, and Working condition indicators was proposed in the current study. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was then applied to achieve the evaluation with the help of an analytical hierarchy process and validity test. By providing basic descriptions, physical test results and specific calculation results to the consulted ten experts and collecting the scores for the 3rd level indicators, the first-generation garlic planter was analyzed for the practical application of the Pizhou-white garlic planting area based on the established applicability evaluation system. The evaluated score of 74.47 was towards the bottom of the "good" range. The findings also suggest that enhancing operational safety, implementing plant spacing and planting depth adjustments, enhancing ease of operation, and to some extent lowering capital cost will improve functional performance and economic performance. The upgraded machine was subsequently created using the optimization guidelines. Its applicability score was 77.52, representing a 4.1% gain over the original computer. It has reached the midpoint of the "good" range and has achieved the optimization goal. The proposed applicability evaluation system can generally draw unbiased conclusions and provide scientific evaluation methods for the promotion of garlic planters in specific areas, benefiting not only the design and improvement of garlic planters but also the purchasing and application of them. However, further indicator refinement and a more thorough evaluation method appear necessary before the evaluation system is made more widely available.

Low-Cost Live Insect Scouting Drone: iDrone Bee.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, e.g., drones) are a common tool for many civil applications, including precision agriculture, transportation, delivery services, rescue missions, law enforcement, and more. Remote sensing technologies used in conjunction with drones are a dominant application in precision agriculture. Multispectral instrumentation attached to UAVs allows the user to observe multiple parameters, including the normalized difference vegetation index which can represent crop stresses induced by various factors (e.g., drought, insect outbreak, nutrient loss, and other diseases). However, little research has been done to apply drones to accomplish a mission-oriented actionable task in agriculture, such as insect sampling. We propose a low-cost, open source-based live insect scouting drone named 'iDrone Bee' to benefit the integrated pest management (IPM) community by minimizing time and efforts of human interventions while collecting live insects in agricultural fields. Herein we present instruction and operation procedures to build and operate an iDrone Bee for insect scouting in an agricultural ecosystem and validate the system in an alfalfa seed field. The findings of this investigation demonstrate that a drone-based insect scouting method may be a valuable tool to benefit the IPM community.

Analysis of the interaction of seeds with a centrifugal disk working body of a chamber-type treater.

Presowing seed treatment is the first step in growing crops and obtaining a predicted high-quality yield. It plays a vital role in an integrated plant protection system. When treating seeds before sowing, it is crucial to avoid seed damage by the machine working bodies to obtain the planned harvest. For that reason, when designing new machines, it is necessary to exclude the use of auger working bodies and reduce the treatment speed. This paper analyzes the interaction of seeds with the working surfaces of centrifugal disk distribution bodies of pressown seed treatment machines. This paper considers the influence of geometric and kinematic factors on the distribution of particles at the outlet of the disk working body. Theoretical dependences that allow determining the relative speed of seed escape from the blades of a centrifugal disk have been obtained. An experimental plant allowing testing of the effectiveness of the proposed technical solution has been designed and manufactured. Theoretical and experimental studies allowed us to determine the conditions necessary for uniform chemical treatment of seeds and reduce the impact of centrifugal-type working bodies on seeds when treated with chemical or biological preparations before sowing.

Algorithm for wireless sensor networks in ginseng field in precision agriculture.

In the research on energy-efficient networking methods for precision agriculture, a hot topic is the energy issue of sensing nodes for individual wireless sensor networks. The sensing nodes of the wireless sensor network should be enabled to provide better services with limited energy to support wide-range and multi-scenario acquisition and transmission of three-dimensional crop information. Further, the life cycle of the sensing nodes should be maximized under limited energy. The transmission direction and node power consumption are considered, and the forward and high-energy nodes are selected as the preferred cluster heads or data-forwarding nodes. Taking the cropland cultivation of ginseng as the background, we put forward a particle swarm optimization-based networking algorithm for wireless sensor networks with excellent performance. This algorithm can be used for precision agriculture and achieve optimal equipment configuration in a network under limited energy, while ensuring reliable communication in the network. The node scale is configured as 50 to 300 nodes in the range of 500 × 500 m2, and simulated testing is conducted with the LEACH, BCDCP, and ECHERP routing protocols. Compared with the existing LEACH, BCDCP, and ECHERP routing protocols, the proposed networking method can achieve the network lifetime prolongation and mitigate the decreased degree and decreasing trend of the distance between the sensing nodes and center nodes of the sensor network, which results in a longer network life cycle and stronger environment suitability. It is an effective method that improves the sensing node lifetime for a wireless sensor network applied to cropland cultivation of ginseng.

Salicylic acid affects mycorrhizal features, antioxidant enzyme activities and seed yield of linseed under water-deficit stress in open-field conditions.

The research aims were to study salicylic acid (SA) effects on mycorrhiza [hyphal width (HW), vesicle diameter (VD) and mycorrhizal colonization (MC)] and interaction between them on greenness index (GI), drought tolerance index (DTI), antioxidant enzymes activities, and seed yield of linseed under drought. A factorial experiment was conducted in an open-field place with mycorrhiza [non-inoculation, Funneliformis mosseae (FM), and Rhizoglomus intraradices (RI)], SA (250 µM and non-SA), and irrigation levels [100%, 70%, and 40% field capacity (FC)] as treatments. Severe drought increased VD, MC, superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and peroxidase activities while decreased GI, DTI, and yield. The RI-linseed had higher MC, GI, SOD, and glutathione reductase (GR) activities, but FM-linseed had greater VD and yield under drought. Inoculated linseed with both mycorrhiza showed a reduction in DTI and yield under SA than non-SA. In RI-linseed, SA increased GI, MC, HW, VD, catalase and GR, but decreased in FM-plants. Mycorrhiza (particularly RI) alleviated drought (40% FC)-caused negative effects on linseed via the improvement of SOD, APX, and GI. Regardless of other treatments, SA had negative effects on HW and VD, but SA effects varied depending on mycorrhizal species so that SA increased HW, VD, and MC in RI. Due to the positive correlation between MC and HW, SA reduces FM colonization by reducing the HW of FM. Totally, SA along with RI species can mitigate the harmful effects of drought and improve tolerance via increasing MC, HW, VD, catalase, peroxidase, and GR activities.

Optimization of factors affecting the rooting of pine wilt disease resistant Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) stem cuttings.

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a devastating disease affecting trees belonging to the genus Pinus. To control the spread of PWD in the Masson pine forest in China, PWD resistant Masson pine clones have been selected by the Anhui Academy of Forestry. However, because Masson pine is a difficult-to-root species, producing seedlings is challenging, especially from trees older than 5 years of age, which impedes the application of PWD resistant clones. In this study, we investigated the factors affecting rooting of PWD resistant clones and established a cheap, reliable, and simple method that promotes rooting. We tested the effects of three management methods, four substrates, two cutting materials, two cutting treatments, and three collection times on the rooting of cuttings obtained from 9-year-old PWD resistant clones. Rooting was observed only in stem cuttings treated with the full-light automatic spray management method. Additionally, stem cuttings showed a significantly higher rooting rate and root quality than needles cuttings. Compared with other substrates, stem cuttings planted in perlite produced the longest adventitious root and the highest total root length and lateral root number. Moreover, stem cuttings of PWD resistant clones collected in May showed a significantly higher rooting rate and root quality than those collected in June and July. Moreover, stem cuttings prepared with a horizontal cut while retaining the needles showed significantly higher rooting rate and root quality than those prepared with a diagonal cut while partly removing the needles. This study promotes the reproduction of seedlings of PWD-resistant Masson pine clones which helps control the spread of PWD, meanwhile, provides a technical reference for the propagation of mature pine trees via cuttings.

Towards optimization of plant cell detection in suspensions using impedance-based analyses and the unified equivalent circuit model.

An improved approach for comparative study of plant cells for long term and continuous monitoring using electrical impedance spectroscopy is demonstrated for tomato and tobacco plant cells (MSK8 and BY2) in suspensions. This approach is based on the locations and magnitudes of defining features in the impedance spectra of the recently reported unified equivalent circuit model. The ultra-wide range (4 Hz to 20 GHz) impedance spectra of the cell lines were measured using custom probes, and were analyzed using the unified equivalent circuit model, highlighting significant negative phase peaks in the ~ 1 kHz to ~ 10 MHz range. These peaks differ between the tomato and tobacco cells, and since they can be easily defined, they can potentially be used as the signal for differentiating between different cell cultures or monitoring them over time. These findings were further analysed, showing that ratios relating the resistances of the media and the resistance of the cells define the sensitivity of the method, thus affecting its selectivity. It was further shown that cell agglomeration is also an important factor in the impedance modeling in addition to the overall cell concentration. These results can be used for optimizing and calibrating electrical impedance spectroscopy-based sensors for long term monitoring of cell lines in suspension for a given specific cell and media types.

Importance of legal regulations resulting from technical harmonization in the European Union for improvement of work safety of farmers in Poland.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Accidents exert a negative effect on the quality and standard of living of rural inhabitants, especially when they make it impossible to continue work on a farm, or this work may be performed only to a limited extent. The creation of effective legal mechanisms which would guarantee the safety of operation of machinery is a crucial issue, it is of a preventive character and considerably limits the number of accidents. Approximately 16.1 million people live in the rural areas and around 2.3 million work in the agricultural sector, which represents 14.5% of all labour in Poland in 2019. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the legal regulations resulting from the directives of technical harmonization in the European Union for improvement of safety of work with the use of agricultural machinery in Poland. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The method was critical analysis of legal acts in effect, court rulings, and statistical data concerning accidentsoin farms, made available by the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE STATE OF KNOWLEDGE: As a result of Poland's membership of the European Union, rural areas were covered by globalization processes and single market rules, within which there function legal mechanisms of safety and quality of products. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the 16 years of Poland's membership of the EU, resulted in positive results being observed in the use of the directives of technical harmonization, especially in reducing the number of accidents involving agricultural machinery. However, this improvement may result from using newly-purchased, modern and safer agricultural machinery covered by the conformity assessment, and preventive actions carried out by the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund. An impact of other factors, not analysed in the study, cannot be ruled out.

Nanotechnology: recent advances in viticulture and enology.

Nowadays, nanoscience is a leading modern science that has a major impact on the food, pharmaceutical, and agriculture sectors. Several nanomaterials show a great potential for use during vine growing and winemaking processes. In viticulture, nanotechnology can be applied to protect vines against phytopathogens and to improve grape yield and quality. Thus, nanotechnology may allow the use of lesser amounts of phytochemical compounds, reducing environmental impact and promoting a more sustainable agriculture. And in winemaking, nanomaterials and nanodevices can be used to control the growth of spoilage microorganisms and to reduce or remove undesirable compounds, such as ethyl phenols (4-ethylphenol and 4-ethylguaiacol), biogenic amines, and tartaric acid, and so on, as well as to facilitate some technological processes (i.e. in wine filtration to eliminate microorganisms). This review summarizes recent studies with applications of nanotechnology in viticulture in order to facilitate agronomic management and optimize grape production and in enology to improve wine quality and safety. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Production of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) under different soilless cultures.

The main aim of this paper was to investigate the possibility of growing basil under three soilless systems (aeroponic, hydroponic and peatmoss slab systems). A model was developed to predict the nutrients consumption by basil plants. Shoot and root height, fresh and dry mass of whole plant, nutrients uptake, and oil content were studied during the growth period (after 4 and 7 weeks from transplanting). The results indicated that the shoot lengths of basil plants were 71.67 ± 2.89, 65.67 ± 1.15 and 62.33 ± 2.31 cm at the end of growth period for aeroponic, hydroponic and peatmoss slabs, respectively. The highest value of root height of basil plants was 37.67 ± 6.66 cm for aeroponic system. The dry mass of shoot of basil plants ranged from 28.48 ± 0.91 to 44.77 ± 0.97 and 72.98 ± 0.83 to 117.93 ± 1.40 g plant-1 after 4 and 7 weeks from transplanting, respectively. The highest values of the N, P, K, Ca and Mg uptakes were 753.99 ± 5.65, 224.88 ± 3.05, 449.75 ± 4.59, 529.12 ± 6.63 and 112.44 ± 1.67 mg plant-1 at the end of experimental period, respectively. The basil oil content ranged from 1.129 (1.11%) to 2.520 (1.80%) and 2.664 (1.42%) to 6.318 (1.44%) g plant-1 after 4 and 7 weeks from transplanting, respectively at the same pervious order. The production costs of basil plant were 2.93, 5.27 and 6.24 EGP kg-1 of plant. The model results were in a reasonable agreement with the experimental ones.

Genetic algorithm optimized node deployment in IEEE 802.15.4 potato and wheat crop monitoring infrastructure.

This proposal investigates the effect of vegetation height and density on received signal strength between two sensor nodes communicating under IEEE 802.15.4 wireless standard. With the aim of investigating the path loss coefficient of 2.4 GHz radio signal in an IEEE 802.15.4 precision agriculture monitoring infrastructure, measurement campaigns were carried out in different growing stages of potato and wheat crops. Experimental observations indicate that initial node deployment in the wheat crop experiences network dis-connectivity due to increased signal attenuation, which is due to the growth of wheat vegetation height and density in the grain-filling and physical-maturity periods. An empirical measurement-based path loss model is formulated to identify the received signal strength in different crop growth stages. Further, a NSGA-II multi-objective evolutionary computation is performed to generate initial node deployment and is optimized over increased coverage, reduced over-coverage, and received signal strength. The results show the development of a reliable wireless sensor network infrastructure for wheat crop monitoring.

A sexual division of labour at the start of agriculture? A multi-proxy comparison through grave good stone tool technological and use-wear analysis.

This work demonstrates the importance of integrating sexual division of labour into the research of the transition to the Neolithic and its social implications. During the spread of the Neolithic in Europe, when migration led to the dispersal of domesticated plants and animals, novel tasks and tools, appear in the archaeological record. By examining the use-wear traces from over 400 stone tools from funerary contexts of the earliest Neolithic in central Europe we provide insights into what tasks could have been carried out by women and men. The results of this analysis are then examined for statistically significant correlations with the osteological, isotopic and other grave good data, informing on sexed-based differences in diet, mobility and symbolism. Our data demonstrate males were buried with stone tools used for woodwork, and butchery, hunting or interpersonal violence, while women with those for the working of animal skins, expanding the range of tasks known to have been carried out. The results also show variation along an east-west cline from Slovakia to eastern France, suggesting that the sexual division of labour (or at least its representation in death) changed as farming spread westwards.

Unusual Presentation of Bilateral Carotid Artery Dissection: The Importance of Reasoning Outside the Box.

A bilateral internal carotid artery dissection presenting with atypical symptoms of cerebral hypoperfusion has been rarely reported, especially in the absence of obvious precipitating factors. A middle-aged woman presented to the emergency department with a 2-day-history of progressive left arm numbness and weakness, confusion, disorientation and clumsiness worsened by upright position. A cerebral hypoperfusion condition was hypothesized and confirmed by a CT angiography, which showed bilateral internal carotid dissection with uncertain etiology. Screening for predisposing conditions to spontaneous carotid arteries dissection was basically negative. Regarding potential precipitating factors, the patient had used an electric olive harvester days before symptoms onset, without any painful sensation or sudden sequelae. Portable harvesters in olive growing transmit vibrations to the hand-arm system but it remains to be elucidated if hand-arm vibrations can be implicated in vessels wall injury and dissection. Bilateral carotid artery dissection is an infrequent and life-threatening condition which can rarely present with non-specific symptoms of cerebral hypoperfusion. The absence of typical symptoms and known precipitating factors can made the diagnosis quite hard to achieve.

Robotic agricultural instrument for automated extraction of nematode cysts and eggs from soil to improve integrated pest management.

Soybeans are an important crop for global food security. Every year, soybean yields are reduced by numerous soybean diseases, particularly the soybean cyst nematode (SCN). It is difficult to visually identify the presence of SCN in the field, let alone its population densities or numbers, as there are no obvious aboveground disease symptoms. The only definitive way to assess SCN population densities is to directly extract the SCN cysts from soil and then extract the eggs from cysts and count them. Extraction is typically conducted in commercial soil analysis laboratories and university plant diagnostic clinics and involves repeated steps of sieving, washing, collecting, grinding, and cleaning. Here we present a robotic instrument to reproduce and automate the functions of the conventional methods to extract nematode cysts from soil and subsequently extract eggs from the recovered nematode cysts. We incorporated mechanisms to actuate the stage system, manipulate positions of individual sieves using the gripper, recover cysts and cyst-sized objects from soil suspended in water, and grind the cysts to release their eggs. All system functions are controlled and operated by a touchscreen interface software. The performance of the robotic instrument is evaluated using soil samples infested with SCN from two farms at different locations and results were comparable to the conventional technique. Our new technology brings the benefits of automation to SCN soil diagnostics, a step towards long-term integrated pest management of this serious soybean pest.

Microencapsulated soil conditioner with a water-soluble core: improving soil nutrition of crop root.

Traditional level of fertilisers was used by most farmers in China with the risks about resources wasting, environmental pollution together with soil structure deterioration. It is practicable to tackle the challenges about over-fertilisation and low efficiency with microencapsulated soil conditioner (MSC), which clads the water soluble core with natural polymer. Fulvic acid (FA) can be used as core material, because it possesses the characteristics of water-soluble, fertiliser maintenance and expedient monitoring. The morphology, structure, and properties of MSC were studied and compared. The particle size of MSC was ranged from 1.58 to 2.14 mm with a similar shape which was obtained by conventional measuring method due to their soft features. This was mainly attributed to the concentration of liquid paraffin and the interaction between shell materials and calcium chloride. FTIR spectra showed that a peak appeared at 1372 cm-1, and this was ascribed to the microcapsules crosslinked and solidified by calcium ions. Sustained release experiment revealed that the microcapsules owned better fertiliser-retaining and water-retaining performances, and FA may be released as long as 750 h. Biodegradation experiments revealed that an obvious pore structure was found on the surface of microspheres after 30 d of degradation, and this was consistent with the sustained release experiment. Pot experiment illustrated that the plants cured with the microcapsules showed significant growth trend and grew up to 9.2 cm with a maximum rate, and this revealed that MSC owned better performance of promoting the growth of crop root.

Influence of climate change and mechanized harvesting on maize (Zea mays L.) planting and northern limits in northeast China.

BACKGROUND: Northeast China is one of the most important maize producing areas in China. Due to limitations on crop growth resulting from temperature, whether this area can realize mechanical kernel harvesting maize (MKHM) will directly affect the stable development of maize in the region. The effects of climate change on the northern limits of early maturing MKHM were also analyzed in the study. RESULTS: The mean temperature during the maize growth period increased at a rate of 0.22 °C/10a from 1960 to 2018. The average growth periods for early, middle- and late-maturing common harvest maize (CHM) were 123, 135, and 140 days, respectively, and the accumulated temperature above 10 °C (AAT10) was 2400 °C, 2800 °C, and 3100 °C. The early maturing MKHM growth period was about 20 days longer than that of early maturing CHM, and thus the AAT10 of the MKHM was 2700 °C. From 2000-2018, the northern limits for the early maturing CHM maize planting were located from south of Nenjiang and Wudalianchi (47° 98' N-49° 74' N), while the northern limits for the early maturing MKHM maize were located in south Keshan, Nehe, and Hailun (46° 32' N-48° 70' N), which was about 148 km southward compared to the northern limits of the early maturing CHM maize. CONCLUSION: This study not only confirmed the northern limits of early maturing MKHM maize but also indicated that the development of MKHM offsets the influences of climate change on the northern limits of maize planting. This is very important for the sustainable development of maize in the region. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

In the soft grip of nature.

Biological grippers can inspire the development of a new class of versatile soft grippers in agrorobotics and beyond.

Saving time maintaining reliability: a new method for quantification of Tetranychus urticae damage in Arabidopsis whole rosettes.

BACKGROUND: The model species Tetranychus urticae produces important plant injury and economic losses in the field. The current accepted method for the quantification of the spider mite damage in Arabidopsis whole rosettes is time consuming and entails a bottleneck for large-scale studies such as mutant screening or quantitative genetic analyses. Here, we describe an improved version of the existing method by designing an automatic protocol. The accuracy, precision, reproducibility and concordance of the new enhanced approach are validated in two Arabidopsis accessions with opposite damage phenotypes. Results are compared to the currently available manual method. RESULTS: Image acquisition experiments revealed that the automatic settings plus 10 values of brightness and the black background are the optimal conditions for a specific recognition of spider mite damage by software programs. Among the different tested methods, the Ilastik-Fiji tandem based on machine learning was the best procedure able to quantify the damage maintaining the differential range of damage between accessions. In addition, the Ilastik-Fiji tandem method showed the lowest variability within a set of conditions and the highest stability under different lighting or background surroundings. Bland-Altman concordance results pointed out a negative value for Ilastik-Fiji, which implies a minor estimation of the damage when compared to the manual standard method. CONCLUSIONS: The novel approach using Ilastik and Fiji programs entails a great improvement for the quantification of the specific spider mite damage in Arabidopsis whole rosettes. The automation of the proposed method based on interactive machine learning eliminates the subjectivity and inter-rater-variability of the previous manual protocol. Besides, this method offers a robust tool for time saving and to avoid the damage overestimation observed with other methods.

A Systematic Review of IoT Solutions for Smart Farming.

The world population growth is increasing the demand for food production. Furthermore, the reduction of the workforce in rural areas and the increase in production costs are challenges for food production nowadays. Smart farming is a farm management concept that may use Internet of Things (IoT) to overcome the current challenges of food production. This work uses the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews (PRISMA) methodology to systematically review the existing literature on smart farming with IoT. The review aims to identify the main devices, platforms, network protocols, processing data technologies and the applicability of smart farming with IoT to agriculture. The review shows an evolution in the way data is processed in recent years. Traditional approaches mostly used data in a reactive manner. In more recent approaches, however, new technological developments allowed the use of data to prevent crop problems and to improve the accuracy of crop diagnosis.