Implementing scalable cloud computing solutions for agricultural data management

While data is one of the key drivers of the agriculture sector, at the same time managing data from various data sources, formats and data ownerships is one of the biggest challenges for the sector. However, there are also great opportunities to explore and exploit the different sources that are being made available by public and private sector organizations to provide insights for enhancing business and economic growth in the sector as well as ensuring a secure, economic and sustainable food system. The emergence of the cloud computing model has the potential to address these challenges by enabling wide access to storage and processing capabilities and economies of scale that would be prohibitive for individual stakeholders to acquire. With the emergence of new capabilities in data management, data processing, dynamic computing and cost aware computing leadership for primary producers, data providers, and consulting services can use these capabilities to implement easy to use, fast, integrated, and scalable data management processes to support analytics needs for the agriculture sector (Jayaraman et al., 2016; Kamilaris et al., 2016; Brewster et al., 2017). Cloud Computing as Technology is an enabler for the e-Agriculture Strategy, providing a new model of data management. Cloud computing is about managing the physical infrastructure in a different way and ensuring security. The way to unlocking the potential of the cloud is by focusing on solutions that support the business process. Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift in the information technology ambiance that delivers services—computing, storage, software, and network—over the Internet, hence the name cloud. While not a new concept in IT, however, this latest generation of distributed, Internet-based services can deliver for industries around the world significant operational efficiencies, new business models, and revenue streams.