The prospects are vast! Exploring the Application of the Internet of Things in Smart Agriculture

2024-02-27

The integration of the Internet of Things in agriculture has broad prospects. It has changed agricultural management, animal husbandry, and agricultural cultivation. In addition, farmers need to help balance the constantly decreasing farmland and the depletion of limited natural resources.

The population is growing exponentially, and agriculture needs to solve the problem of feeding the population. It is obvious that we must rely on technology to improve agricultural efficiency and enhance sustainability.

We have seen many technologies changing different fields, and machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things are causing waves in different fields to improve efficiency.

The IoT applications we see include disaster management, e-commerce, music, tourism, manufacturing, and construction. We will explore the functions and agricultural applications of the Internet of Things in agriculture.

Intelligent greenhouse

Greenhouse agriculture aims to increase yield by adjusting environmental parameters through the use of balanced control systems or manual intervention. However, manual intervention can increase labor costs, energy losses, and output losses, and smart greenhouses are a better choice.

The Internet of Things can be used to build smart greenhouses that can monitor and regulate the climate on their own without any human intervention.

Intelligent greenhouses use various sensors to evaluate environmental parameters and determine their suitability for crops. Supporting remote access to the Internet of Things eliminates the requirement for regular monitoring.

The IoT sensors inside the greenhouse provide basic data on temperature, pressure, humidity, and lighting levels. Sensors manage everything from ventilation and lighting to regulating temperature and cooling.

Fertilizer management

The Internet of Things is a unique tool for the use of intelligent agricultural fertilizers. With this technology, farmers can obtain the latest information about soil quality. With this information, they can better determine the type and quantity of fertilizers required for the farm.

Farmers can use various sensors, including soil moisture and humidity sensors, to ensure effective and efficient crop growth. For example, sensors can help farmers determine how much nitrogen and potassium their crops need.

Thisgreatly beneficial for fertilizer management as it will reduce waste and other related costs.

Computer imaging

Computer imaging mainly uses sensor cameras, which are distributed throughout the entire farm and capture digitally processed images. By comparing the photos in the dataset with agricultural product photos, image processing and machine learning can determine the size, color, shape, and growth of crops, thereby making quality adjustments.

Computer imaging can also be used to classify and grade products based on their quality. With the help of computer imaging, drawing irrigation area maps becomes easier to manage and helps determine whether to harvest during the pre harvest season.

Disease detection

Disease control is an important aspect of agriculture, as it reduces food production, affects agricultural costs, and threatens the world's food supply. On the other hand, excessive use of pesticides is harmful to the environment as it can affect natural ecosystems and pollute water sources.

Fortunately, the advancement of IoT technology is creating new avenues to address these issues. The Internet of Things and sensors can be used in the field to detect early signs of diseases or pests and continuously monitor crop health. These sensors can collect data on various biological and environmental factors that affect crop health and plant growth patterns.

The Internet of Things in pest control can prevent diseases and mitigate the adverse effects of pests on crop yields. The Internet of Things technology has also promoted data-driven decision-making in agricultural pest and disease control.

Farmers can evaluate the success of pest management plans and make necessary adjustments to their operations by examining data from IoT devices. Farmers can discover the health status of crops and choose effective pest control techniques.

Predictive analysis

Predictive data analysis goes hand in hand with precision agriculture. The application of data analysis by farmers helps them understand the vast amount of real-time data provided by Internet of Things technology, enabling them to make key predictions on crop harvest time, pest risk, yield, and other related issues. Due to the high dependence of agriculture on weather, data analysis solutions help make agriculture easier to manage.

For example, farmers can have an early understanding of the quality and yield of crops, as well as their sensitivity to adverse weather events such as droughts and floods. In addition, farmers can choose yield characteristics to improve crop quality and maximize the availability of nutrients and water for each crop.

When applied in agriculture, these technologies can help producers save irrigation water, reduce fertilizer losses caused by excessive watering, and provide useful information in any weather or season.

Robots and Autonomous Machines

Robot technology has brought a bright future to agriculture. Farmers have started using tractors, automatic harvesters, and vehicles that do not require manual operation. This type of robot helps to complete repetitive, labor-intensive, and challenging tasks.

For example, agricultural robots such as automatic tractors can start working at predetermined times and routes, send progress notifications to farmers, and so on. These robots are unmanned and help reduce labor costs.

In addition, robots are also used for intelligent agriculture watering, planting, and weeding seeds. The assigned tasks are labor-intensive and challenging. Nevertheless, it can still identify weeds and sow them. By careful operation, these agricultural robots significantly reduce damage to plants and the environment.

conclusion

The integration of the Internet of Things in agriculture has broad prospects. It has changed agricultural management, animal husbandry, and agricultural cultivation. In addition, farmers need to help balance the constantly decreasing farmland and the depletion of limited natural resources.

By leveraging the power of the Internet of Things, farmers can ensure sustainable and effective agricultural operations by increasing yields, optimizing resource consumption, and making data-driven decisions.

From the performance forecasts of 214 energy storage companies, we can see clearly the two major profit making logic

As of January 31, the 2023 performance forecast for A-share listed companies has been disclosed. According to incomplete statistics from Weike Network, over 200 energy storage industry chain companies have disclosed their 2023 performance forecasts.

Among the 214 energy storage concept stocks, 145 achieved profitability, accounting for 67.7%, with an estimated maximum profit of 216.858 billion yuan. Among them, 122 companies achieved a year-on-year increase in net profit (measured at the upper limit of growth).

In this article, Weikewang Energy Storage mainly focuses on two popular sub areas, energy storage batteries, energy storage systems, etc., and compares the layout and operating results of various companies from the main links of the industrial chain, providing reference for the future development planning of relevant energy storage industries.

Energy Storage Batteries: Industry Synergy Effect for Cost Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement

Among the 13 energy storage battery companies that have released performance forecasts, 9 companies including CATL and BYD have achieved profitability, while 4 companies including Boliwei, Weike Technology, Wanrun New Energy, and Funeng Technology are expected to incur losses.

From the performance results, Ningde Times, BYD, Guoxuan High tech and other leading companies in the battery industry chain have achieved stable growth in net profit attributable to the parent company, with a total net profit attributable to the parent company of approximately 72.3 billion to 77.6 billion yuan, accounting for most of the profits in the industry chain.

Among the three companies, Ningde Times' net profit slightly exceeded market expectations. According to this forecast, Ningde Times is expected to achieve a net profit of 42.5-45.5 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 38% -48%; The net profit after deduction was 38.5-41.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36% -47%.

As the layout of the industrial chain continues to deepen, leading enterprises with industrial chain advantages such as CATL and BYD can continue to benefit from the expansion of market size, thereby increasing market share and further reducing costs.

In addition, from the perspective of net profit growth, three companies including Guoxuan High tech, Penghui Energy, and Zhuhai Guanyu are expected to see a profit increase of over 200%.

Guoxuan High tech expects its net profit attributable to shareholders to reach 800 million to 1.1 billion yuan in 2023, with a net profit of 209 million yuan in the first half of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 223.75%. Based on the growth rate in the first and second half of the year, it has maintained a high growth rate throughout the year. Among them, in H1 2023, Guoxuan High tech's energy storage business revenue was about 4.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 224%. The gross profit margin of its energy storage sector also increased from 10% to 17%.

Guoxuan High tech stated that the company's overseas business has shown initial results, its market development ability has further improved, and its energy storage delivery ability has further improved, achieving good returns. The early departure from the sea has given Guoxuan High Tech an advantage during the internal competition period, and currently the installed energy storage capacity in the United States has exceeded 1GWh.

It is worth mentioning that for enterprises that still lack upstream layout in the industrial chain, they may face pressure from upstream and downstream if they are unable to effectively hedge against significant fluctuations in upstream materials.

During the lithium price decline in 2023, Vico Technology was greatly affected. Weike Technology expects to achieve a net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company of approximately -123 million yuan in 2023, with an increase in losses compared to the same period last year. Weike Technology stated that in 2023, the company's main raw materials, such as lithium cobalt oxide, were significantly reduced in price, leading to downstream customers demanding lower product prices. In addition, the company purchased high prices of main materials and had some inventory in stock, further compressing its original profit margin.

In addition, Funeng Technology is also affected by material prices. According to the performance forecast, Funeng Technology expects to achieve a net profit attributable to the parent company's owners, after deducting non recurring gains and losses, of RMB -1615 million to RMB -1998 million in 2023. The main reasons for the loss are the decrease in gross profit margin caused by the high cost of lithium carbonate raw materials, as well as the large provision for inventory goods falling below the net realizable value.

Energy Storage System: Deeply Cultivate Overseas Segmented Markets

Guoxuan High tech has benefited from its early expansion into overseas markets. However, not all companies going abroad can taste the sweetness. In the second half of 2023, the energy storage market shifted from a blue ocean to a red ocean, affecting the performance of some domestic energy storage companies.

From the disclosed performance forecasts, it can be seen that many energy storage system companies are related to their overseas market layout in terms of performance changes.

According to multiple industry insiders, in the second half of 2023, several portable energy storage companies experienced a decline in orders and inventory backlog in overseas markets. "The main reason for the current inventory backlog is that companies have overestimated the actual demand in Europe in 2023, while European energy prices are gradually becoming normalized, and the demand from European users has significantly declined compared to last year," said one of the top enterprise insiders of household energy storage

Affected by changes in overseas markets, lithium-ion energy storage system supplier Paineng Technology recently released a performance forecast, predicting a net profit attributable to the parent company of 500-60 million yuan in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 52.86% -60.71%. Paineng Technology stated that during the reporting period, the growth rate of the household storage market has gradually slowed down due to multiple factors such as changes in the macro environment, the decline of subsidies in some countries and regions, and the destocking of downstream enterprises.

Also affected is Hekang Xinneng. On the evening of January 22nd, Hekang Xinneng released its 2023 performance forecast. The company expects a loss of RMB 185 million to RMB 240 million in annual net profit, compared to a profit of RMB 25.6433 million in the same period last year, a year-on-year decrease of 821.44% -1035.92%.

In the first half of 2023, there were significant changes in the demand side of the main overseas market for household storage, with high inventory in industry channels. Due to Hekang New Energy's early procurement of household storage products from other manufacturers for external sales, its stocking cycle was long and inventory risk was high. Therefore, in the fourth quarter of 2023, Hekang Xinneng decisively discounted and sold the previously purchased household storage inventory, which also impacted the current profit.

It is worth noting that Huazi Technology has also achieved profitability in its overseas business. Not long ago, Huazi Technology released a performance forecast, predicting a net profit of 32 million to 42 million yuan in 2023, achieving a turnaround from losses to profits. Huazi Technology stated that it has achieved significant growth in operating revenue due to seizing industry development opportunities, striving to increase market share, and further expanding international markets.

It is understood that Huazi Technology and Weihai International Consortium won the bid for the 105MWh battery storage power station general contracting project in Cote d'Ivoire in July 2023. Thisthe first large-scale centralized energy storage project won by Huazi Technology in the West African region, laying a solid foundation for future expansion in the new energy market in the West African region. In addition, Huazi Technology has successfully built a "photovoltaic+energy storage" power station in Nauru.

Currently, emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Middle East and Africa have great potential. Many companies are also continuously investing in the development of new markets, developing products that meet local market demands, and seizing market share. More and more users are gradually increasing their demand for products in segmented scenarios. Therefore, targeted solutions to user pain points, the launch of relevant green energy solutions, and the satisfaction of more user needs are expected to find the secret of making money overseas from deep cultivation in specific fields.

From the performance of 214 energy storage enterprises, it can be seen that industry synergy is very important in the energy storage industry, especially in the context of price wars. The ability to effectively reduce costs and increase efficiency determines whether the enterprise can survive in market competition. When choosing the path of "going global", the direction of going global is particularly important. For most small and medium-sized companies, avoiding highly competitive regions and exploring potential opportunities in segmented markets is a good logic for making money.

Of course, in addition to energy storage batteries and energy storage systems, there are also areas worth learning and learning from in industries such as materials, equipment, energy storage inverters, and energy storage temperature control. The follow-up of Weike Network's energy storage will also focus on exploring these sub segments.

Without sensors, the Internet of Things will move towards "hollowing out"