Reducing Farm-Related Pollution

Agricultural runoff occurs when water from irrigation practices, rainfall or melted snow reaches local waterways instead of sinking into the soil. It picks up various contaminants as it moves, ultimately worsening pollution levels.

The issue also affects farmers by making pesticides and applied nutrients less effective since they do not remain in the targeted areas. Users then spend more time and money to get the desired results. Some professionals address the matter by using IoT soil-moisture sensors to improve their irrigation schedules. This approach minimizes waterway pollution and saves farms’ resources.

Responsible land management strategies also involve building retaining walls. These barriers restrict water flow, preventing the polluting effects. If sensors detect moisture levels, they can confirm the retaining wall’s effectiveness and indicate whether people should alter the designs for better results.

Authorities use connected technologies to monitor trends, too. A July 2025 study found Iowan waterways have some of the country’s highest nitrate levels. One of the sites was in the top three for concentration levels out of 650 national locations.

One of the report’s science advisors and a professional associated with the University of Iowa said the state currently has 80 nitrate-monitoring sensors but will begin using only 20 in 2026 due to funding cuts. That expert noted the decrease in data prevents researchers from learning as much about waterway pollution levels or knowing when the problem becomes more severe or better.

Farmers who build retaining walls could use embedded sensors to verify the structures’ effectiveness on properties, ensuring they have built something practical to address agricultural runoff. These individual monitoring methods do not replace state-installed hardware but can complement it.

Enabling Prompt Repairs

Well-designed and maintained retaining walls provide years of use. However, they may develop hidden and obvious issues over time that farmers must quickly address to avoid complications. Those made of mechanically reinforced earth bulge when lateral forces affect geosynthetic reinforcement components. This issue compromises structural stability, requiring rapid realignment and support.

When retaining walls protect crops planted across many acres, agriculture professionals need monitoring solutions to supplement time-intensive manual checks. IoT sensors provide timely warnings of potential failures, allowing people to react and prevent accidents.

Applications in other industries reveal best practices for farmers to consider. Authorities in a South Korean district installed 45 tilt or crack-detection sensors in some of the area’s older or hazardous buildings. Mounting them on retaining walls or other appropriate places helps safety managers detect issues, trace the causes of failures and prevent future problems.

One of this system’s most applicable features immediately alerts parties if statistics exceed a predefined threshold. Those events trigger inspections and potential mandates for property owners or managers to fix the issues by a deadline.

Some farmers already use other real-time monitoring tools and view attaching sensors to retaining walls as a logical next step. Because the improved visibility increases their overall awareness, users embracing this option can minimize preventable costs and enhance safety.

Assessing Soil Health and Preventing Erosion

Retaining walls are among the top ways to manage erosion. They force dirt to keep its position and drain or channel water away from the structure, preventing its accumulation. Some farmers use them as raised surfaces for planting trees and shrubs. Forward-thinking agricultural professionals can tackle erosion by incorporating soil health sensors into these barriers.

Researchers created a cloud-based system that measures pH levels, automatically dispenses nutrients and maximizes irrigation outcomes. Its scalability makes it ideal for farms of all sizes. The remote-monitoring capabilities also assist busy farmers by letting them view statistics in one place rather than visiting parts of their properties.

Erosion degrades soil health by adversely affecting salinity, structure and fertility. However, maintaining the dirt addresses this problem by retaining the topsoil. Management decisions to reduce compaction encourage water absorption, preventing the moisture from causing runoff and waste.

Because the research team’s innovation detects soil displacement, it complements retaining walls constructed to stop its movement. The solution compares live readings with threshold values and only irrigates the area when necessary. This demand-based functionality conserves resources and maximizes yields.

Real-time monitoring also supports small-scale operations. Produce sales are a top way for homesteaders to earn income. However, parties can only consider the option if they have more than necessary. Soil health monitors and other connected technologies that improve awareness help users predict outcomes and make proactive adjustments to support their livelihoods.

Strengthening Security Measures

Although farmers commonly use retaining walls to protect crops from environmental risks, these structures can also protect against vandals and thieves. Agricultural sites typically feature expensive, specialized equipment and vast quantities of produce, becoming tempting locations for people wanting to cause trouble or steal. Some assume they can get a head start because employees will take a while to find and deter them on large properties.

However, numerous connected technologies become criminal deterrents, protecting property owners’ machinery, goods and structures. Nigerian computer scientists proposed a system to replace farmers’ inadequate but frequently used method of building fences from sticks and ropes.

This IoT solution detects humans and animals intruding on farmland and triggers an alarm to frighten them away. If they remain for 30 seconds, farmers receive alerts. The sensors can also determine the presence of metal, suggesting unauthorized parties may possess weapons.

Similar security systems for agricultural use can check parties’ credentials and enforce access control measures according to the provided information. Those options protect farms without taking workers away from other tasks requiring their immediate attention. Drones have also become popular because they take aerial photographs and capture data that users could miss through ground-based methods.

When decision-makers consider adding retaining walls to their land, they should prioritize doing so alongside other reinforcements. These upgrades increase owner confidence and could boost property values while lowering insurance rates.

Bringing Technology Into Daily Farm Life

Farmers were not the earliest adopters of connected technologies, but now many realize they should modernize their methods with purposeful solutions. Whether that means embedding sensors into retaining walls or installing them to complement the structures in other ways, open-minded agricultural professionals can improve ongoing tasks and overall output by investigating options to fit budgets, common challenges and land dimensions.

Farmers should also plan to roll out new technologies gradually. This helps them strategize locations, teach employees new workflows when applicable and confirm returns on investment before ramping up initial product deployments.