Since 1973, World Environment Day has been observed on June 5th to inspire the global community to enact positive changes that protect its natural resources.
The event, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), highlights a new theme each year. This year, the spotlight is on desertification, drought resilience, and land restoration.
An estimated 3.2 billion humans globally suffer due to desertification. By 2050, predictions indicate that droughts may impact more than three-quarters of the world's population.
Farmers everywhere are facing complex economic and environmental challenges, and will need creative solutions to navigate them. Agtech adoption could play a pivotal role in helping farmers reduce waste, manage resources, and monitor the wellbeing of crops more efficiently.
Agtech, short for agricultural technology, is the application of technology and innovation to improve agricultural practices, increase productivity, and promote sustainability in farming. These solutions are designed to address various challenges in agriculture, such as:
Crop production
Livestock management
Food distribution
Environmental sustainability
Examples of agtech include:
Precision Agriculture: Drones and satellites for crop monitoring, GPS and sensors for precision planting and irrigation
Farm Automation: Robotic field harvesters, autonomous tractors
Biotechnology: Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), CRISPR and gene editing
Data Analytics and AI: Crop modeling and prediction, supply chain optimization
Sustainable Practices: Vertical farming, hydroponics, and aquaponics
Agri-Fintech: Financial services for farmers
Environmental Impact Monitoring: Climate and weather forecasting, soil and water management
Agtech solutions often rely on the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart sensor integration to provide real-time, data-driven feedback and control to farmers. Precision farming uses feedback from smart sensors to monitor a variety of factors:
Humidity
Pests
Temperature
Crop growth
Soil quality
Plant diseases
Crop production
According to The United Nations Convention to Stop Desertification’s Global Land Outlook Summary for Decision Makers, “Land restoration is about creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for people – small-scale farmers, indigenous peoples and local communities, businesses and entrepreneurs, women and youth – to boost incomes, secure food and water supplies, and make individuals and communities less vulnerable.”
Advanced solutions for reducing waste and using natural resources efficiently are a crucial part of drought resilience and land restoration.
A no-tillage farming approach is hugely beneficial to soil health and the overall environment. With minimal disturbance, you both preserve natural ground cover and make use of soil as a carbon sink to minimize the escape of greenhouse gasses.
BillionCarbon, a startup based in India, has developed a solution to make large-scale soil regeneration possible at a low cost. Their nutrient mining system relies on IoT-enabled micro-climate controlled bioreactors and black soldier fly larvae to turn food waste into fertilizer. According to their website, this process takes three days and produces zero waste.
To address the need for energy-efficient water distribution, Spowdi has developed solar-powered mobile drip irrigation systems that save up to 80% of water at a low cost. The Swedish startup aims to help small-hold farmers around the world operate more efficiently while moving away from high-cost fossil fuel options.
Both of the above companies are recipients of the World Economic Forum’s Top Innovator award for climate smart farming solutions.
The risk of a data breach shouldn’t be ignored by those adopting IoT technology in farming. According to Statista, the agriculture sector was hit with 243 cybersecurity incidents between November 2020 and October 2021.
As suggested in an analysis published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, “Data stored in cloud servers can be tempered by attackers to damage the automated farming processes in farm lands. Such attacks could further affect the productivity of the entire farm land and improper management of environmental factors.” The authors conclude that these data security concerns are a key reason behind the slow adoption of smart farming technologies.
With Secure by Design practices, innovative farmers can better protect their investment in cutting-edge agtech solutions. Start with the basics:
Make multifactor authentication (MFA) the default for all applications.
Require regular password updates and complex passwords that include numbers and special characters.
Only store necessary data, and review your data retention policy.
Build a network of reliable and secure software products and providers to work with.
Review your software systems, firewall, and website for updates (along with any plug-ins and extensions). Vulnerabilities from aging and outdated systems are a common culprit for data loss. Look for and remove any integrations or plugins that are no longer relevant. This will help reduce the number of parties that have access to your data.