Greenhouse crop monitoring using 4.0 Technologies

Implementing "Smart Agriculture" tools in Colombia, especially in the domain of small farmers, encounters serious difficulties. Although they represent 70,8 % of the total Agricultural Production Units (UPA), according to the National Agricultural Survey (2019), only 2,4 % of the farmers have an internet connection. It is possible to monitor variables and improve agricultural production strategies using "Internet of Things" (IoT). Therefore, this work explores using 4.0 technological tools in rural areas. Based on the LoRaFarM architecture (LoRaWAN-based Smart Farming Modular IoT Architecture), it is used an open -access IoT platform, LoRa, and LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) technologies. That way, nodes are installed in two vegetable production greenhouses in San Cristobal's town. Then, the platform allowed farmers to visualize on a control panel reading of temperature, relative humidity, light spectrum (visible, infrared, and ultraviolet), and the power supply voltage of the sensor nodes. With 5 GB of free data storage, data transmission was configured to approximately 3 km to an internet gateway. In conclusion, it is possible to link farmers to an internet node, improving technical assistance coverage. It is also possible to increase monitoring distances and cover more farmers for future work.