The word modern farming means the use of modern technologies, techniques and science for increasing farming productions. Farming is the cultivation of domestic animals, fish, birds, plants, crop etc. for the purpose of food, cloth and other products essential to sustain life. Farming plays an important role in the development of human civilization. Prior to the industrial revolution, most of those people used to do farming for their daily basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter. They had no idea of world marketplace and used to have very low production due to use of traditional farming methods. But now the things have changed.

Agriculture in India is still a traditional procedure. But when you compare with the other foreign countries, they call it as Modern Agriculture. The difference between both is the use of Technology methods in Agriculture. Technology and Modern methods in Agriculture has a huge scope in India, slowly, there is a shift that we can observe. But still, it is not on a par level when we compare with the other overseas countries. The most important reason behind this is the lack of awareness among the farmers.

In modern agricultural systems farmers believe they have more central roles and are eager to apply technology and information to control most components of the system, a very different view from that of traditional farmers. Modern machines can control the hard work of farmers.

Different types of modern farming methods:

Aquaponics, on the other hand, is a closed-loop system that relies on the symbiotic relationship among aquaculture (fish) and agriculture(plants) for fertilization. While fish waste accumulates in the water and provides the nutrients essential for plant growth, the plants naturally clean the water. It provides a balanced, yet less regimented, environment.

Aquaponics refers to any method that combines conventional aquaculture

(raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals raised can accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity.

1. Aeroponics of Modern Farming Methods

Aeroponics is the process of growing plants with only water and nutrients. This innovative method results in faster growth, healthier plants, and bigger yield while using fewer resources. Plants grow in a soilless medium called rockwool.

Aeroponic systems are additional cost efficient than other systems. Because of the reduced volume of solution throughput, less water and fewer nutrients are needed in the system at any given time compared to other nutrient delivery systems. The need for substrates is eliminated, as is the need for many moving parts.

Some of the benefits of using the Aeroponic farming include:

Ease of working with plants
Cost effective since won’t have to spend money on irrigation channels
Aids in disease-free cultivation as plant-to-plant contact is limited and if a plant does become infected, it can be simply removed from the support structure without disrupting the other plants.

2. Aquaponics of Modern Farming Methods

Aquaponics, on the other hand, is a closed-loop system that relies on the symbiotic relationship among aquaculture (fish) and agriculture (plants) for fertilization. While fish waste accumulates in the water and provides the nutrients essential for plant growth, the plants naturally clean the water. It provides a balanced, yet less regimented, environment.

Aquaponics refers to any method that combines conventional aquaculture

An Aquaponic system depends on different live components to work effectively. The 3 main live components are plants, fish (or other aquatic creatures) and bacteria.

Benefits of Aquaponics:

All normal fertilizer sources from fish waste.
No reliance on mined and affected fertilizers.
Efficient, sustainable and extremely productive.
Fish are free of expansion hormones and antibiotics.
Allows continuous making of food.
It produces both a protein and vegetable crop.
Integrated method is sustainable and earth-friendly.
Eliminating soil eliminates soil borne diseases.

3. Hydroponics of Modern Farming Methods

The hydroponics method is a soil-less type of farming because it requires no soil for the plants to grow. Instead, it uses water as its growing medium. The knowledge of soilless gardening is called hydroponics. It essentially involves growing healthy plants without the use of a traditional soil medium by using a nutrient like a mineral rich water solution instead. A plant needs, choose nutrients, some water, and sunlight to grow. Not only do plants grow without soil, they often develop a lot better with their roots in water instead.

Some benefits of Hydroponic Farming:

By providing constant and readily available nutrition, hydroponics allows plants to rise up to 50% faster than they would in soil. Also, fresh produce can be harvested from a hydroponic garden through the year.
Great for both the environment and the mature product, hydroponic gardening virtually eliminates the need for herbicides and pesticides compared to traditional soil gardening.
Any water that is used hydroponic farm gardening stays in the system and can be reused, reducing the constant need for a fresh water supply.
Arable land is often in small supply and gardening space continues to decrease. A huge option when you lack yard space or have a tiny balcony, hydroponics also lends itself really well to indoor gardening.

4. Monoculture of Modern Farming Methods

Monoculture farming method is the raising of a single crop within a specified area. Most of the commercial farms in the United States are now monoculture in nature, with crops like corn and soy taking top billing. This is in contrast to the traditional technique of farming, which relied on multiple crops being planted within a specific area. Many indoor farms growing medicinal herbs and flowers are measured to be monoculture farms.

Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing a single crop, single plant, or livestock species, variety, or breed in a field or farming system at a time. Polyculture, where more than one crop is grown in the similar space at the same time, is the alternative to monoculture. Monoculture farming is widely used in both industrial farming and organic farming and has allowed increased efficiency in planting and harvest.

When one crop is grown alone in a field, it is called a monoculture farm. Monoculture farming makes it easier to cultivate, sow seed, control weeds, and harvest, as well as expand the size of the farm operation and improve aspects of profitability and cost. At the same time, monocultures tend to promote the use of the other 5 basic practices of modern agriculture.

Monocultures in grassland are a moderately recent phenomenon. Many grassland systems, such as hay meadows and chalk grasslands, have a more diversified. In case of chalk grasslands, this diversity has arisen following several years of grazing.

Benefits of monoculture:

Reduced plant opposition for nutrients, space and solar radiation.
Control of undesirable or unprofitable organisms.
Reduction of costs by controlling of specialized machinery required for arable operations.
Maximize profit from the increasing of higher gross margin crops.

5. Tissue culture of Modern Farming Methods

Tissue culture refers to a method in which fragments of a tissue plant are introduced into a new, artificial environment, where they continue to function or grow. While fragments of a tissue culture are often used, it is important to note that entire organs are also used for tissue culture purposes. Here, such growth media as broth and agar are used to facilitate the procedure. While the term tissue culture farm may be used for both plant and animal tissues, plant tissue culture is the more specific term used for the culture of plant tissues in tissue culture.

Tissue culture is the expansion of tissues or cells separate from the organism. This is naturally facilitated via the use of a liquid, semi-solid, or solid growth medium, such as broth or agar. Tissue culture normally refers to the culture of animal cells and tissues, with the more specific term plant tissue culture being used for plants.

Tissue culture usually refers to the growth of cells from a tissue from a multicellular organism in vitro. These cells may be isolated from a donor organism, “primary cells”, or an immortalized cell line. The cells are bathed in a culture medium, which contains necessary nutrients and energy sources necessary for the cells’ survival. The tissue culture is often used interchangeably with cell culture.

The tissue culture technique is used increasingly for the production of ornamental plants like orchids, dahlia, carnation, chrysanthemum, etc. The assembly of plants by the method of tissue culture is also known as micro propagation because small amounts of plant material is used.

Benefits of tissue culture:

Tissue culture is a fast technique. Thousands of plantlets can be created in a few weeks time from a small amount of plant tissue.
The new plants formed by tissue culture are disease free.
Tissue culture can produce, plants round the year, irrespective of weather or season.
Very little space is needed for increasing new plants by tissue culture.
It helps to speed up the creation of new varieties into the market place.

6. Drones in Modern Farming Methods

An agricultural drone technology is an unmanned aerial vehicle applied to farming in order to help increase crop production and monitor crop growth. Sensors and digital capabilities can give farmers a richer picture of their fields. This information may prove useful in civilizing crop yields and farm efficiency.

Drone technology has been around for decades, taking to the skies to capture movie sequences, collect scientific information and scout territory. But there’s a different industry where drones are really beginning to take off farming.

Benefits of drone farming:

More information, less time: One of the main benefits of drones is their ability to scout farm fields both quickly and efficiently. Rather than having growers evaluate field’s manually on foot or by tractor, this knowledge allows farmers to gain immediate knowledge about the status of their fields in shorter periods of time.

Improving crop health and efficiency: Drone technology is very effective at collecting data to help farmers improve crop health. Equipped with sensors, drones flying over a field can collect plant height dimensions by gathering range information from the plant canopy and the ground below. By measuring near infrared wavelengths through a multispectral sensor, drone technology can also create vegetation index images, indicating which plants are healthy and absorbing maximum sunlight.

Water efficiency and other environmental benefits: Thermal cameras are capable to detect cooler, well-watered field regions as well as dry hot patches. Farmers can utilize this data to adjust field irrigation and avoid wasting excess water. This capacity to increase water optimization is particularly valuable in droughtstricken areas, such as California. Most drones presently available for use in the agriculture industry are very costly.

However, with new developments and more innovation, drones may start to prove their value in agriculture.

Vertical Farming:

Vertical farming is the urban farming of fruits, vegetables, and grains, within a building in a city or urban center, in which floors are designed to accommodate certain crops. These heights will act as the future farms, land and as architects; we can figure these high-rises to sow the seeds for the future.

Vertical farming is, growing food indoors, in vertical layers; a concept global company has been experimenting with over the past 10 years filling old warehouses and disused factories with structures that develop vegetables and herbs in cramped, artificially lit quarters out of the warm glow of the sun.

Benefits of vertical farming:

Continuous Crop Production—Vertical farming technology can ensure crop production year-round in non-tropical regions. And the production is much more efficient than land-based farming. According to Despommier, a single indoor acre of a vertical farm may produce yield equivalent to more than 30 acres of farmland, when the number of crops produced per season is taken into account.
Elimination of Herbicides and Pesticides—The controlled growing conditions in a vertical farm allow a reduction or total abandonment of the use of chemical pesticides. Some vertical farming operations use ladybugs and other biological controls when needed to deal with any infestations.
Protection from Weather-Related Variations in Crop Production—Because crops in a vertical farm are grown under a controlled environment, they are safe from extreme weather occurrences such as droughts, hail, and floods.

7. Hybrid Seed Technology:

A hybrid seed technology is a cross between two or more unrelated inbred plants. The two dissimilar varieties are cross bred, resulting in a seed that carries one or more favorable traits. Hybrid seeds are commonplace in commercial farming, mainly to increase crop yields. In agriculture and gardening, hybrid seed is used to form by cross-pollinated plants. Hybrid seed production is major in modern agriculture and home gardening.

All of the hybrid seeds planted by the farmer will construct similar plants, while the seeds of the next generation from those hybrids will not consistently have the desired characteristics. Controlled hybrids provide very regular characteristics because they are produced by crossing two inbred strains.

Hybrids are chosen to develop the characteristics of the resulting plants, such as better yield, greater uniformity, improved color, disease resistance. A main factor is the heterosis or combining ability of the parent plants. Crossing any exacting pair of inbred strains may or may not result in superior offspring. The parent strains used are therefore suspiciously chosen so as to achieve the uniformity that comes from the uniformity of the parents, and the superior performance that comes from heterosis.

Benefits of hybrid seed farming: