Purdue University is tackling two big agricultural problems. Farmers need to manage logistics like collecting data and distributing resources. New technology being developed aims to make these tasks more efficient.

David Love from the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering explains a solid push to bring 6G wireless technology to the market and what it could mean for the agriculture industry.

“Around the world, the big thing driving research right now is 6G wireless development,” said Love. “One of the big topics for 6G is precision agriculture.”

Precision agriculture allows farmers to use data to improve planting, watering, and fertilizing decisions. This leads to better crop yields and less waste.

David Love adds that future 6G wireless technology, with its faster speeds and more reliable connections than 5G, will make farming equipment smaller and cheaper. He also says that while placing many sensors in fields is challenging, one solution is to mix tiny sensors with seeds and plant them together.

“Precision agriculture has not taken off yet,” he said. “In general, we are in the early stages of a shift in farming where you’re going to start seeing more of these high-tech aspects in communications, robotics, and autonomous systems.”