Could taking the human touch out of your harvest reap more profit?
It’s that time of year again, and our agricultural professionals are on the cusp of the most expensive yet profitable period of all. We are, of course, talking about the harvest set to take place around the 21st-23rd of September.
If you’re the proud owner of your own agricultural business, you’re probably getting ready for this all-important moment. In many ways, your yearly efforts have been working towards this. All your seed acquisition and water irrigation have been so that you can enjoy the best crops. And, yet, mixing all those initial costs with a poorly-overseen harvest could leave you significantly out of pocket.
That isn’t rocket science considering that a large amount of your yearly profit relies on being able to distribute your harvested crops. Yet, whether this is your first or fiftieth harvest, there’s always room for error. Unless, of course, you turn to the many arising harvest technologies.
While technology has been used in some areas of harvest for decades, the ever-adapting modern world means updates such as GPS tracking and new machinery could see you harvesting a lot more profit. And, we’re going to look at how.
Overcoming labour costs
Perhaps the most apparent technological harvest benefit is that of overcoming labour costs. The high expense of harvest is primarily due to the need for seasonal workers to manage tasks. Yet, this can get costly. Given that the majority of seasonal farm workers are EU migrants, the expense here is also only set to get worse in the case of a no-deal Brexit. By turning to automated processes and even using harvesting robots, labour costs can be replaced with one considerable expense that covers itself within a few years of operation.
Yield crop optimisation
The higher your crop yield per hectare, the higher the profitability you stand to see. Luckily, the use of new technologies such as satellite imagery and advanced analytics can bring yield crop optimisation like nothing else. That’s because, throughout the growing season, these technologies can help to ensure the healthy growth of all crops. During harvest, this technology can also help to determine which crops are at prime growth to ensure success every time.
Reduced wastage
Technology and machinery can also go a long way towards reducing the wastage that leads to lost harvest profits. The satellite imagery mentioned above can avoid wastage during the growing process by helping you to spot things like water run-off, and use it to limit wasted resources. Equally, an addition such as a bale wrapper machine can lead to avoidance of rotting harvests without the expense of barn storage. This way, farmers can ensure that they’re able to sell everything they harvest at the best quality and the highest prices.
Undeniably, farming technology isn’t cheap. Even machinery costs can seem daunting, especially when you’re new to the industry. Yet, given the amount of profitability this stands to bring to your business, it’s fair to say that these are investments worth making, especially with harvest in mind.
