Wireless sensors are installed — but is the farm truly “smart”?

Hello everyone in the smart farming & automation space,

Many modern farms have started deploying IoT systems: soil moisture sensors, cloud dashboards, data platforms. But in practice, the picture often looks like this:

  • Sensors send data, but no actions follow
  • Dashboards exist — but no one opens them after 1–2 months
  • Automation is set up, but decisions still come down to guesswork

The issue may not be the technology — but choosing the wrong problem to solve.


:jigsaw: A recent article from Daviteq breaks down 5 real-world IoT applications that are actually solving pain points in agricultural operations. Each one comes with use cases, academic studies, and practical ROI.

Here’s the quick list:

  1. Precision irrigation based on real-time soil data
    → Avoids overwatering, saves resources
  2. Remote greenhouse control & monitoring
    → Adjust climate settings anytime, anywhere
  3. Livestock health tracking via wearable sensors
    → Early illness detection, lower treatment costs
  4. On-field weather & microclimate monitoring
    → Field-level decisions that are more accurate than regional forecasts
  5. Cold chain monitoring after harvest
    → Protects product quality across distribution

:paperclip: Full blog with more details: https://www.iot.daviteq.com/post/smart-agriculture-iot-solutions


:thought_balloon:If starting IoT from scratch on a farm, which use case should be prioritized first?

– Irrigation?
– Greenhouse automation?
– Livestock monitoring?
– Post-harvest tracking?

Looking forward to thoughts from anyone who’s implemented wireless sensors — especially across different LPWAN protocols (LoRaWAN / NB-IoT / Sigfox).