K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
Innovation in agriculture is one of the hottest topics at the moment due to the industry facing a number of challenges in the past years, including rising suppliers’ costs, labor shortage and major changes in consumer preferences for more transparency and sustainability.
According to Crunchbase data, venture capitalists invested more than $4 billion into the AgTech space in both 2018 and 2019, with 2020 not showing any signs of slowing down. Seana Day from Better Food Ventures also added that “COVID-19, with its disconnect between demand signals and supply, has reminded the world about the food supply chain.”
Agricultural technology (or agritech, or AgTech) represents the use of technology and innovation to increase the efficiency, productivity and output of agricultural activities, such as farming and growing of crops. There are many applications of AgTech, however, the main aim is to grow more food while using less space and/or fewer inputs. Technological advances in agriculture also save farmers time and money by, for example, implementing task automation, while replacing manual labor, which often represents the highest cost input in farming. Major innovations in agriculture have focused around areas, like urban farming, robotics and automation of processes, livestock tech, modernized greenhouses, precision agriculture, AI and blockchain.
Urban farming, including indoor vertical farming
Indoor vertical farming is gaining interest due to its ability to thrive in limited space. Its advantages include reduced labor costs, increasing crop yields, overcoming limited land area by enabling food production in urban environments and reducing the impact that farming has on the environment due to the decreased distance travelled in the supply chain, therefore being more sustainable. Due to the fact that vertical farming can precisely control variables such as light, humidity and water, food production is increased with reliable harvest times all-year-round. In certain setups, vertical farms do not even require soil for plants to grow (such as hydroponic farms, where plants are grown in nutrient-dense bowls of water), while using 70% less water than traditional farms, and therefore optimizing energy conservation.
Farming processes automation or “smart farming”
Farm automation refers to technology that makes farming more efficient, while automating the production cycle of crops or livestock. This can be done via robotics innovation, such as drones, autonomous tractors, robotic harvesters, automatic watering and seeding robots. Automatic watering and robotic harvesters are already being commonly used in vertical farming. The main goal of farm automation is to cover easier and monotonous tasks. However, it also contributes to tackling such issues as labor shortages, environmental footprint of farming and rapidly changing consumer preferences.
Continue reading: https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/99818-future-of-food-people-planet-and-economy
According to Crunchbase data, venture capitalists invested more than $4 billion into the AgTech space in both 2018 and 2019, with 2020 not showing any signs of slowing down. Seana Day from Better Food Ventures also added that “COVID-19, with its disconnect between demand signals and supply, has reminded the world about the food supply chain.”
Agricultural technology (or agritech, or AgTech) represents the use of technology and innovation to increase the efficiency, productivity and output of agricultural activities, such as farming and growing of crops. There are many applications of AgTech, however, the main aim is to grow more food while using less space and/or fewer inputs. Technological advances in agriculture also save farmers time and money by, for example, implementing task automation, while replacing manual labor, which often represents the highest cost input in farming. Major innovations in agriculture have focused around areas, like urban farming, robotics and automation of processes, livestock tech, modernized greenhouses, precision agriculture, AI and blockchain.
Urban farming, including indoor vertical farming
Indoor vertical farming is gaining interest due to its ability to thrive in limited space. Its advantages include reduced labor costs, increasing crop yields, overcoming limited land area by enabling food production in urban environments and reducing the impact that farming has on the environment due to the decreased distance travelled in the supply chain, therefore being more sustainable. Due to the fact that vertical farming can precisely control variables such as light, humidity and water, food production is increased with reliable harvest times all-year-round. In certain setups, vertical farms do not even require soil for plants to grow (such as hydroponic farms, where plants are grown in nutrient-dense bowls of water), while using 70% less water than traditional farms, and therefore optimizing energy conservation.
Farming processes automation or “smart farming”
Farm automation refers to technology that makes farming more efficient, while automating the production cycle of crops or livestock. This can be done via robotics innovation, such as drones, autonomous tractors, robotic harvesters, automatic watering and seeding robots. Automatic watering and robotic harvesters are already being commonly used in vertical farming. The main goal of farm automation is to cover easier and monotonous tasks. However, it also contributes to tackling such issues as labor shortages, environmental footprint of farming and rapidly changing consumer preferences.
Continue reading: https://www.foodengineeringmag.com/articles/99818-future-of-food-people-planet-and-economy
