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Old MacDonald, as we all know, had a farm. But, while he had a host of animals, from pigs to chickens to cows, the song never explicitly stated that he had machine to machine solutions to help keep his farm efficient and sustainable. But these days, more and more farmers are using M2M technology to improve their throughput, profit margins and more, and ThingWorx is one company that provides solutions to the agriculture vertical.

In a recent interview with TMC (News - Alert), Chris Kuntz, director of Marketing at ThingWorx, spoke about how his company’s M2M applications can help farmers bring cutting edge technology to their businesses. In addition to the agriculture industry, ThingWorx also serves verticals such as transportation, healthcare, smart utility and more. Kuntz stated that agricultural companies were the ones to approach ThingWorx, seeking to bring the latest technology to the farm. Kuntz pointed out that the decrease in the cost of hardware and wireless connectivity has removed barriers for adopting M2M solutions, and now farmers can take advantage of these applications for a variety of purposes, from poultry monitoring to smart watering.

Farmers are utilizing more and more technology these days, seeking sustainable farming solutions. They collect a variety of data, from weather information to GPS coordinates of machinery and livestock. When this information is properly combined and correlated, farmers can use it to move toward sustainable farms, increasing their profit margins and throughput, improving efficiencies.

Recently, OnFarm, an agriculture software company, selected ThingWorx to power its smart farming solutions. OnFarm chose ThingWorx for several reasons. First, ThingWorx gives companies the ability to create their own clouds, building their own SaaS (News - Alert)-based solutions. ThingWorx also integrates multiple data sources, including environmental sensors, weather data and GPS information into a single dashboard to enable smarter farming decisions. Finally, the firm creates an easy application development environment with its drag-and-drop platform, letting companies create their own applications without the need to write code.

Kuntz sees a bright future for M2M solutions across many verticals, but especially agriculture. He sees new businesses taking advantage of the technology to enable smart watering and better uses of pesticide, for example. He also sees a future for livestock monitoring, so Old MacDonald can keep track of all of his cows and chickens, making M2M easier than E-I-E-I-O.