Investing in a fleet management system can be very beneficial for fleet businesses belonging to the agriculture industry. This is because the asset tracking solutions help them go beyond tracking just the vehicles. And in an industry primarily operated by machinery, this GPS tracking system can help a lot.
Let us learn how this system can help the agriculture industry, especially as it moves to smart operating methods.
What is Smart Agriculture
These past few years we have witnessed a surge in the technological agricultural industry. This is how smart businesses have started growing as well. But what exactly does smart agriculture mean? And why should businesses think about ways to manage these changes?
In very simple words, smart agriculture is the use of high-end technology to perform tasks that were previously reliant on manual labour and planning. While this process is nothing new, it is the recent technologies that have escalated normal agriculture to smart operations. Some of the things that this industry adopts are:
- Automatic Machinery: Automatic vehicles are not just a thing of the future but instead have become reality. Such machinery has also entered the agricultural industry. Several tasks like ploughing, harvesting and so on.
- Drone Technology: Drones and robots will soon become the employees working in a field. But while they might be accurate, technology still requires human supervision. This is where the fleet management system can help. Asset tracking solutions can aid the tracking process of these drones.
- Sensor Integration: Sensors for measuring the vehicle’s and assets’ performance are necessary. It can help measure parameters like soil fertility as well. This makes decision-making so much easier for fleet businesses. Data collected by these sensors can also be stored long term to understand the pattern that a
- Data-based Operations: When we talk about smart technology, data is the prime thing that comes to mind. So is the case with the agricultural industry as well. Data can help businesses become aware of their lacking points and work to optimise them. This helps them become efficient and also ensure a satisfied clientele
How Can Asset Tracking System Aid the Agriculture Industry?
So how do you think the asset tracking system helps the agricultural industry? There are several ways this can be possible. Some of them include:
- Modern Tracking: GPS tracking system allows managers to see where their machinery is in real-time. This includes the machines used both on and off the field. Location tracking also helps keep track of several fields at the same time. Thus aiding business expansion without having to employ more supervisors.
- Accuracy: The operations executed by asset tracking are way more accurate than the ones done by manual management. This makes the fleet business much more reliable. The data collected by this system is also much more accurate which helps managers have a better idea of their fleet’s operations.
- Reports: Data collected by this system is then categorised into reports. These reports allow managers to get insights into their operations and ways they can improve them. This means they do not have to manually slave away to collect data and then form them into actionable records for storage. The system also makes long-term data study easy.
- Field Measurements: Most fields are not in a specific geometrical shape, which makes it difficult to measure the area of the field. With machinery being tracked, it becomes very easy to have the correct measurements of the field. This also aids the area calculation using concave hull methods.
Benefits of Using Fleet Management System for Agricultural Businesses
We have seen how asset tracking systems alone can be beneficial for any agricultural business. But how can a fleet management system help this industry? Here are a few ways to make this possible:
Reports and Records
All the solutions that this system offers to collect data. This data is then presented to them in the form of reports. These reports are not only good for studying before decision-making but can also help mitigate challenges.
The fleet management software stores data for up to 6 months. This means the managers have access to long-term data. Not only does this help them make decisions, but can also ensure better efficiency.
Service and Maintenance
Maintaining vehicles and machinery is the primary concern of any agricultural business. This is because it is these vehicles that have to ultimately perform tasks and can determine productivity. The service and maintenance feature of the vehicle tracking platform helps in making this possible.
It allows managers to schedule check-ups for their vehicles. Then alerts generated by this system make sure that no such check-up is missed. This means the vehicle stays in good shape for long periods of time.
Geofence
Making sure that the vehicles and machines stay off of any dangerous areas on the fields or keep them from ruining crops. Vehicles can also put danger to the cattle working or grazing on the field. Geofences can be of great use to avoid any such situations from happening. Vehicles can accidentally also get into other fields not belonging to their owner.
Managers can mark their field as a geofence. Thus, every time their vehicle strays out of this boundary, they can instruct the driver to come back to the field. They can also mark the areas for cattle grazing as a geofence. This will keep the vehicles from harming any animal accidentally or harming the crops in certain areas.
Announcement
Drivers working in an agricultural field do not have access to their managers all the time. This is why it is a challenge for these fleet managers to relay any messages to the drivers. But the driver is connected to the fleet management system. So a notification of this software will certainly do the job well. The announcement feature does exactly that.
Any message that managers have to broadcast to the entire or a large part of the fleet can be put in as an announcement. It will be the first thing the driver encounters upon opening the system, thus working on the issue promptly.
Driver Behaviour Monitoring System
In the field, where machinery, crops, and livestock coexist, it’s crucial that drivers act with a certain amount of decorum. Solutions for tracking driver behaviour make sure that drivers don’t engage in risky driver practices that could endanger the fleet business’ security.
Conclusion
This article has gone through ways that a fleet management system’s asset tracking solutions can help agricultural businesses. It makes sure that the machines are not only working efficiently but also ensuring better productivity. But out of all the software in the market, which one is the best choice?
Trackobit is the leading fleet management system in the market. With its amazing solutions, a fleet business will never have to worry about inconsistent operations. Request a demo and see it work its magic for yourself.
0 Comments