AT&T is using IoT to support “farm to table” model

AT&T is using its expertise in the Internet of Things (IoT) to add connectivity to the “farm to table” model – helping bring fresh food to peoples’ tables more efficiently, and responsibly disposing of it after.

How does this work?

From Farm to Table…

Precision King, a provider of smart farming solutions uses IoT services to help take the guess work out of farming.

There are three essentials in agriculture – sun, temperature and water – over which farmers don’t really have control. Precision King’s Soil King solution lets farmers monitor the one key factor over which they have control – water irrigation.

Using AT&T’s IoT Services, Precision King collects data from the soil and transmits it to the Precision King console. Farmers receive alerts when it’s time to irrigate. Not over-watering saves fuel and equipment costs, and preserves an important natural resource.

Precision King also uses AT&T IoT technology to help monitor weather conditions and track equipment. Access to wind, temperature and humidity data provides farmers with a remote view of crop conditions. They can make near real-time decisions to move or shut off irrigation—from virtually anywhere.

From Farm to Fridge…

Farmer’s Fridge is using IoT technology to make fresh, wholesome food options easily accessible to those on-the-go. AT&T is the primary provider of wireless connectivity to connect the company’s smart fridges on one scalable platform.

Each morning, Farmer’s Fridge drivers deliver freshly prepared food in temperature-monitored vans.

They place the meals in connected fridges in locations like office buildings, convenience stores, hospitals, schools and more.

AT&T’s cellular connectivity services are part of the fridges. They work with the Farmer’s Fridge solution to monitor and automatically adjust the temperature. They also help Farmer’s Fridge ensure its customers only get the freshest foods. That’s why the fridges will automatically shut down and prevent anyone from buying the food after 2 hours if there’s a power outage.

Farmer’s Fridge also uses AT&T IoT technology to:

• Monitor inventory. Farmer’s Fridge gets reports in near real-time. At close of business every day, a report lets the kitchen know which foods to prepare for the following day and in what quantity. The connected fridges also alerts drivers to their delivery route for the following morning, based on the inventory data collected.
• Improve life of equipment. Can monitor the status of fridges; alerts come in right away if maintenance is needed.
• See revenue faster. Can process credit card transactions in near real-time.

Clean Disposal

Today, approximately 40% of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste and 97% of that ends up in landfills. There, it decomposes and produces methane gas—25X more harmful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to shrinking the ozone layer. As a result, many states and municipalities require large food waste generators to find a recycling solution.

Emerson looked to AT&T IoT solutions to advance its innovative Grind2Energy food waste recycling system. With these new capabilities, Emerson will provide near real-time environmental sustainability information, performance data reporting and data analytics to its customers.

This will improve predictive maintenance and visibility to provide remote service. The newly developed IoT technology solution will also streamline tank monitoring analytics and pump-out scheduling coordination. With the Grind2Energy system, Emerson has diverted 7,400 tons of food waste from landfills. That’s equivalent to 12 million fewer miles driven on the road.