Foreword

Agriculture, which contributes 15.4% to the GDP of India, was the foundation on which we built our nation and this has undergone several development phases. Agriculture is the practice of growing the food and cash crops that humans need, and its techniques and technology have advanced quickly. The selection of farming methods depends on climate, terrain, traditions, and the financial condition of the farmer. Depending on the exposure to technology, the availability of land, capital, and skilled labor, the aforementioned techniques can be used in large-scale or small-scale farming.

Each crop needs different growth conditions, differing harvesting seasons, and distinct attention. It is hard to deny the common techniques of agriculture that farmers across the world use. These include ploughing, the use of modern machinery, fertilizers, various types of seeds, etc. But looming on the horizon is India’s population boom, which is set to rise to 1.515 billion by 2030 from 1.417 billion in 2022. This has increased pressure on the agriculture sector.

The full potential of agricultural innovation has to be fully realised in many emerging nations. Understanding and implementing the innovation drivers and procedures that are essential for realising innovation's potential and sparking it are the keys to success. Unfortunately, the cost of the agricultural cycle, beginning from the preparation of soil to the selling of the produce, has ratcheted up, along with the risks. As this book shows, relevancy in information is key and keeping track of crops, the environment and the market may help farmers to make better decisions and ease problems related to agriculture. Technologies like IoT, Machine learning, deep learning, hydroponics, and smart farming can attain information and process it. The authors of this book present a powerful argument for the application and implementation of such aforementioned technologies that will surely help alleviate many challenges we currently face, if not outsec prevent it.