by Vivien Doszpot-Szútor
Agriculture faces four main challenges in the future: demographic growth, scarcity of natural sources, climate change and food waste.[1] In order to solve the emerging problems, it will be necessary to introduce innovations. The latest trend that points in this direction is Agriculture 4.0, which is a smart agriculture built from unmanned operations and automated decision-making systems, that is based on the Internet of Things and cloud technology, and takes advantage of the benefits of precision farming.
Will Agriculture 4.0 be capable of sustainable and profitable farming? It is estimated that 33-50 % of the food produced each year ends up in the trash. Can this method provide a solution to the problem of food waste in the long term? Can we use this to feed the world’s hungry after 800 million people go to bed hungry every night?[2] The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) stated that, „in order to keep up with the rising human population (which will be reach 9 billion by 2050), global food production would have to increase by 70 %.”[3] According to experts „agriculture 4.0 will need to look at both the demand side and the value chain/supply side of the food-scarcity equation, using technology not simply for the sake of innovation but to improve and address the real needs of consumers and reengineer the value chain.”[4]
Although precision agriculture (or precision farming) has been present in agriculture for a long time, technological innovations enable rapid decision-making, since it includes the continuous monitoring of livestock, field and greenhouse gases through various measuring devices.[5] To make decisions, it collects and uses data that take into account climatic conditions and the need of plants, from the heartbeat of animals to the fertility of soil. With its help, the farmer can apply as much water to the plant as the plant culture needs, thereby achieving a higher yield with less investment (produce more with less). According to the European Joint Research Center, precision agriculture „estimates that can make a huge CO2 saving contribution in European agriculture until 2030.”[6] Unfortunately, due to the high cost of technology, the aging workforce and insufficient internet access, precision agriculture in Europe is still in its infancy. However, in the Horizon 2020 program precision agriculture was separately financed, as well as the Internet of Things.[7]
The Internet of Things (- IoT) makes it possible to eliminate multiple data entry due to human errors, thereby reducing financial and time costs. „IoT based smart farming consists of four major components: physical structure, data acquisition, data processing, and data analytics.”[8] Furthermore, sensors are those that, due to their physical size, can measure various parameters, such as temperature or humidity. But it is IoT that has also made agricultural tools connectable and optimisable.
The drone is the „eye in the sky”[9], which allows the farmer to look around his property more easily and efficiently and to notice defects that would otherwise escape his attention, such as spotting dry spots, weeds or diseased plants. Drones can be used not only for monitoring but also for spraying, which can be particularly cost-effective for smaller farms. In addition to analysing plants, drones can also be used for planting or irrigation as well.[10]
Big Data is what makes technology competitive and profitable, as it gives farmers precise advice and greater insight into the real situation of their production or breeding. Big Data enables better transparency, which generates more trust and even better results. „The Commission will support the implementation of a common European agricultural data space facilitating the trustworthy sharing and pooling of agricultural data.”[11] With this step, the Commission can improve not only the transparency of agriculture, but also the food supply.
Blockchain technology also joins this line, as a result of which traceability is improved, making it easier to check the source of food, thereby identifying those economic actors who do not fit into this system – either because of their impact on the climate or the excessive chemical use.
With the help of robotic machines, more precise work can be done in the field. Which not only saves time and money, but can also make daily work easier and more efficient for the farmer.
However, the new technologies not only bring the promise of future agriculture, but also hide new hazards. The sensors that constantly detect everything, the rooms with cameras and the large amount of data stored in the cloud, which is extracted from these devices, make the actors of the agrarian sector vulnerable. That is why Agriculture 4.0 also requires a new kind of cyber security policy, where continuous data transmission works transparently between certain actors of the economy, but this activity is strictly limited to the food produced, not to the expansion of crop yields or livestock through the data files of other farmers. After all „the question is not whether digital technology should be embraced by the global agricultural industry, but how this adoption process will take place in an environment that allows farmers to capitalize on potential production gains.”[12] In this case, not only large farms can be in an advantageous market situation, but also smaller but more cost-effective farms.
The sector faces significant challenges not only in terms of data protection but „from the standardisation of technologies to the ability to invest to modernise the equipment and support infrastructures.”[13] „They often face a tight economic situation with very limited investment ability in new production tools and limited access to credit.”[14] Within the European Union, the problem of agriculture 4.0 is that the new technology is expensive, can be improved by the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).[15]
Governments play a key role in solving the problem of food shortages, but for this they must take on a much wider role than their traditional regulatory and facilitating functions.[16] They must help increase productivity, ensure food safety through strict controls, and make it possible for food to actually reach the hungry. All this must be done in such a way as to keep the impact of the agriculture on the climate in a favourable way and to take into account the competitive situation of the actors of the agriculture.
The agriculture of the future will perhaps be characterized by the fact that the farmer can concentrate on the important work, while sensors, cameras and robot perform all other tasks for him. „The competitiveness of a nation’s agriculture and the ability to maintain vital natural resources in a global economic climate will be closely related to its ability to innovate in these aspects of the production system.”[17] Thus, farming 4.0 faces no less a task than to put farmers in a favourable competitive position so that they not only maximize production, but climate protection is also a priority for them, for our future.
[1] What is Agriculture 4.0? (Proagrica) https://proagrica.com/news/what-is-agriculture-4-0/
[2] Matthieu De Clercq – Anshu Vats – Alvaro Biel: Agriculture 4.0: The Future of Farming Technology, February 2018 (De Clerq-Vats-Biel) https://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/v2/publications/2021/apr/agriculture-4-0-the-future-of-farming-technology.pdf
[3] Sarah Morrone – Corrado Dimauro – Filippo Gambella – Maria Grazia Cappai: Industry 4.0 and Precision Livestock Farming (PLF): An up to Date Overview across Animal Productions, 2022. Jun 7. (Morrone-Dimauro-Gambella-Cappai) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9228240/?fbclid=IwAR0c62gQ3MlABwzr5a_vBDi0Ac4TDlH6-JaruD58WS7elXyx5HvKGl7NuSk
[4] De Clerq-Vats-Biel
[5] Morrone-Dimauro-Gambella-Cappai
[6] Farming 4.0: The Future of Agriculture? https://euagenda.eu/upload/publications/untitled-62960-ea.pdf
[7] European Commission: The future of farming is here (Commission – Future farming): https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/future-farming?fbclid=IwAR1exqWHXYEHwDY6xJswTgs_HSdQ2tOinF8lJO7DwxFl00ieHiCmRLD4N-o
[8] Ibid.
[9] Proagrica
[10] Michael Mazur: Six Ways Drones Are Revolutionizing Agriculture, July 20 2016. https://www.technologyreview.com/2016/07/20/158748/six-ways-drones-are-revolutionizing-agriculture/
[11] Commission – Future farming
[12] Morrone-Dimauro-Gambella-Cappai
[13] European Commission: Digital Transformation Monitor: Industry 4.0 in agriculture: Focus on IoT aspects, July 2017 (Commission) https://ati.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2020-07/Industry%204.0%20in%20Agriculture%20-%20Focus%20on%20IoT%20aspects%20%28v1%29.pdf
[14] Commission
[15] Commission – Future farming
[16] Agriculture 4.0 – The Future of Farming Technology https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2018/feb/agriculture-4-0--the-future-of-farming-technology.html
[17] Morrone-Dimauro-Gambella-Cappai
