Agritech For Better Farm Surveillance

The use of surveillance technologies can enhance a farm’s safety and buy time to prevent, or take defensive measures against, an imminent theft or home invasion. Glenneis Kriel highlights some available systems.

- Glenneis Kriel

Recent years have seen significant advances in surveillance technology, with the result that farmers today can monitor activities on the farm remotely and safely, and respond swiftly to any security breach.

This technology, however, should not be seen as a standalone solution, but as one component in an integrated approach to security.

A farm safety strategy should include well-developed plans of action to cope with various types of security breaches, as well as emergency phone numbers close to hand. Obvious solutions, such as the use of fences, security gates, entrance control, and dogs to protect livestock or the farm’s owners, should not be overlooked, as they may cause intruders to set their sights on softer targets instead.

In addition to this, farmers, neighbours and local communities need to look out for one another, or appoint a security company as backup.

Farm surveillance can play a vital part in this strategy by helping farmers identify threats as quickly as possible. The technologies below greatly improve this surveillance.

Photo surveillance

RikRhino was launched as an early warning system in 2012 to curb rhino poaching in wildlife reserves and game farms. Since them, its client portfolio has grown to include farmers.

The solution consists of a camera surveillance system that uses motion detectors to activate and send photo alerts. These images are provided with a date and time stamp, and transmitted to users’ devices via an app in real time.