From autonomous robots to satellites and cutting-edge science, farmers around the world are deploying new technologies to help them work in smart and cost-effective ways.
In 2018 alone, the smart agriculture market – think everything from precision farming and smart greenhouses to GPS and drones – is estimated to be worth $7.53 billion. It’s expected to reach $13.50 billion by 2023. And, globally, the burgeoning industry is only going to be more critical for the farms of the future. Here’s how:
PART ONE
Agriculture education and today's modern farmers
IF, IN EARLIER TIMES, farming was a trade passed down from one generation to another, the farmers of tomorrow are coming well equipped with digital knowledge and skills. Over the past 30 years, tech- and innovation-focused sustainable agriculture has moved from the academic fringe to become a major trend in higher education.
Beyond standard degree programs, the United States Department of Agriculture now lists another 140 sustainable agriculture offerings at colleges and universities across the U.S. — including online courses, post-grad classes, certificates and workshops. It’s a reflection of increasing millennial interest in building healthier and more holistic food systems. This research approach is bearing fruit, finding groundbreaking solutions in the field.
Innovative technology is used by farmers in the U.S., Hungary, China, India and Africa to help them achieve more sustainable farming.
PART TWO
Digital farming: A bird’s-eye view
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE SKY are helping growers to make better decisions about how they manage their crops at ground level. Today, they can call upon sophisticated tools such as satellites and drones that capture high-resolution images of land quickly.
Images can then be processed to help farmers make crucial decisions about their crops, such as what they should plant, and when and where they should plant it. According to Global Market Insights, the agricultural drone market will be worth over $1 billion by 2024. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch is expecting the sector to generate 100,000 jobs in the U.S. and $82 billion in economic activity between 2015 and 2025.
Having reams of data collected by satellites and drones is all well and good, but making sense of it is another challenge altogether. It’s why the concept of digital farming has become so important in recent years. It uses data collection, data storage, analytics and decision modeling to unlock farming's potential.
Digital technologies are rapidly transforming agriculture.
Dan BurdettSyngenta’s head of digital agriculture
“Digital technologies are rapidly transforming agriculture: data, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and overall farm management help save farmers time and money, and enable unprecedented precision and efficiency,” says Dan Burdett, who leads Syngenta’s global Digital Agriculture work.
Satellites scan and monitor the health of seeds and plants and detect crop damage in real time.
PART THREE
Breaking information down
“Healthy, dense vegetation absorbs light,” says Josh Miller, founder of FarmShots. “In contrast, unhealthy, less dense vegetation reflects light. A satellite can see the differences in the amount of light absorbed by different areas of the field, allowing us to generate a map of plant health across the entire field.”
Drones can give farmers specific information about sectors in the field, including temperature, soil moisture and nutrition levels. Armed with this data, farmers can isolate areas of their fields that are being negatively affected by insects, disease or lack of water. They can also use the map to target, with precision, where crop-protection applications should be used. By detecting problems early, growers can nip issues in the bud before it’s too late.
PART FOUR
Seeds of change-
REACTING TO PROBLEMS IS ONE THING, but what if farmers could use seeds specifically designed to be resilient in the first place?
Syngenta is investing heavily in global research and development – about $1.3 billion annually – much of that on developing and breeding seeds for the world’s major crops and vegetables. “What we bring to growers are new crop technologies to help them improve yield stability and the potential for greater return on investment,” says Ian Jepson, Syngenta’s global head of trait research & development.
One tool that Syngenta has been using is Crispr-Cas. A revolutionary gene-editing technique, Crispr-Cas allows scientists to make specific changes to the cells of crops such as corn, soy, wheat, tomato, rice and sunflower. The result is a sturdier crop that is more resistant to disease, drought and herbicide, which in turn increases yields.
“Gaining access to Crispr-Cas technology allows us to accelerate the rate of innovation in the development of new plant varieties and bring novel traits into the hands of growers faster and with greater efficiency,” according to Jepson.
PART FIVE
Back to basics
THE CHANGES THAT TRANSFORM FARMING will not be brought about by the introduction of revolutionary new technologies alone. Good, old-fashioned conservation still has an incredibly important role to play. Take bees. They may be small, but as pollinators, they’re important to global food production. Almost 75 percent of the planet’s crops that produce seeds and fruit for humans rely, in some part, on pollinators like bees for sustained production, yield and quality.
Syngenta’s Operation Pollinator is a research-based global initiative helping to reintroduce pollinators to farms, golf courses and other terrains. The project, which has been running for more than 15 years, uses wildflowers specially selected to boost biodiversity and attract a range of pollinators.
Although crop pollination is one of the key benefits derived from Syngenta’s 229 agriculture-related projects in 37 countries, it’s not the only one. They also promote biodiversity, reduce soil erosion and protect water sources from soil and nutrient pollution.
“With an ever-increasing need to manage land for food production, 'farming for nature' is becoming an important pillar in achieving society’s nature conservation objectives,” says Juan Gonzalez-Valero, Syngenta’s head of sustainable and responsible business. “Programs like Operation Pollinator demonstrate that it’s possible to achieve both sustainable intensification and habitat conservation at scale.”
What we bring to growers are new crop technologies to help them improve yield stability and the potential for greater return on investment.
Ian JepsonSyngenta’s global head of trait research & development
Whether it’s through lab-based science, space-age technology or traditional techniques, the farms of tomorrow are set to flourish. It will be an interesting
