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Here we explore global tech trends and showcase the innovation happening in our markets around the world.

A NEW SERIES BY VODAFONE

In this edition of Spotlight, we focus on digital agriculture and how Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are shaping the future of farming.

IoT is the network of connected objects that surround us. It’s millions of devices – smart technology – connected to fixed and mobile networks, collecting, transmitting, processing and sharing data in real-time.

Vodafone is a leading IoT connectivity provider connecting over 123 million devices to our networks globally. 

IoT solutions are helping  farms become more profitable, competitive, resilient, efficient and sustainable.

IoT sensors collect and transmit data insights on things like soil quality, water consumption, pesticide usage, insect levels, weather forecasts and even livestock health.

Connected, autonomous drones can support the monitoring of crop growth, livestock management, irrigation mapping, soil analysis, environmental changes and more, while connected tractors, harvesters and machines transmit data on yields, maintenance needs or active locations.

These insights can be brought together in simple digital platforms, providing farmers with accurate information in real-time to help better decision making.

For farmers, this could enable analysis of huge amounts of data from  vast areas of farmland in a matter of seconds –perhaps even on a plant-by-plant scale.

5G will support the growth  of IoT technology, enabling millions more devices to connect and share data  through a single network.

These examples are just some of the ways Vodafone is helping agricultural businesses prepare for the future by supporting the digitalisation of the sector through IoT and 5G.

The innovation does  not stop here.  Over the next few pages, we'll take you through a series of digital solutions for agriculture you could see emerge in the coming years. 

Where IoT sensors monitor the growth and health status of plants and share this data with other machines. This process enables the automatic adjustment of internal climates, with no need for manual intervention.

Where artificially intelligent technologies are processing  and analysing data lakes at speed, picking up patterns  and anomalies that would otherwise be difficult to spot.  

This analysis could be transferred to farmers via simple digital platforms, enabling them to make better decisions around seeding, irrigation,  fertilisation and more. 

Where 5G networks are connecting multiple drones at once, enabling  safe, autonomous flight across larger sections of land, processing more  data and pinpointing more areas for manual intervention.

Vodafone is already testing new precision positioning technology which can track moving objects, including drones, within just 10 centimetres of their live location.

We'll be looking at the impacts of 5G and IoT on the future of healthcare, and how emerging digital solutions could change the way we access medical services forever.

In the next edition of