Digital agriculture

Digital agriculture or precision agriculture combines advanced technology with frequent data collection to provide farmers with a more plentiful harvest while using fewer resources. Though not currently active worldwide, digital agriculture has the potential to transform how farmers communicate and produce a variety of crops.

Technology

Because farmers can select which tools they wish to implement, the specific technology used in digital agriculture can vary. Digital agriculture runs on the idea of the Internet of Things, a principle developed by Kevin Ashton that explains how simple mechanical objects are combined into a complex network to give a broad understanding of that object. This applies to farming too, as farmers could choose to use artificial intelligence (AI) to mechanically water and fertilize their crops at a certain time each day. Simultaneously, sensors in the dirt could give accurate readings on the moisture content and soil fertility in real time. Those readings tell the farmer if he/she needs to vary the time or amount that the AI machines are taking care of the crops. Once a farmer has perfected the AI technicalities, they could share those specifications worldwide in a matter of seconds to help other farmers using digital agriculture. This takes the guesswork out of the system. Along with AI, soil sensors, and communication networks, digital agriculture uses advanced imaging from unmanned aerial vehicles to look at temperature gradients, fertility gradients, moisture gradients, and anomalies in a crop field from an overhead view. UAS imaging is becoming more frequently used in the agricultural trade due to its low economic and ecological cost and its high spatial and temporal resolution. Also, weather forecasts are frequently monitored to eliminate the overwatering of plants.

Barriers

There are four main barriers to adopting digital agriculture worldwide:

1. Development costs
2. Risk of Security
3. Case Studies
4. Employment

Development costs can be a barrier, based on how little long-term data there is to support the effectiveness of incorporating digital technology into the production of crops. A trial in the UK in 2017 reported that for an 80-acre farm it cost approximately $15 an acre per year to have soil scanning and UAS monitoring.This money comes from the pockets of the farmers, so they need to see a significant output increase to be able to have an effective cost-benefit analysis.

Risk of Security is a significant barrier with any technological advancement because of the risk of something or someone hacking into the system. For digital agriculture, the biggest issue of doubt is whether hacking into the system could launch agricultural warfare. This could take form in many different ways, whether it be all systems shutting off, giving incorrect readings, or contamination of fertilizer or water, killing farmers' crops and resulting in a vast economic and environmental loss. This could happen to a small scale farming corporation and result in a "minimal" overall loss, but if all farming in the future relies on hackable technology, agricultural warfare could be launched on a massive scale, resulting in irreversible damage to the ecosystem.

Case studies are a way to test ideas that are in development in a real-life setting and record the data. Unfortunately, in digital agriculture there are very minimal case studies about the long term effect of using multiple pieces of equipment in a combined data collection trial.

As of 2013, an estimated population of about one billion people had been employed in the agricultural business in some way. Introducing advanced technology into agriculture would potentially cut down the need of an agricultural workforce, which could disrupt the economy in places where the people depend on a steady flow of revenue from their jobs in agriculture.

Connection to Sustainable Development Goals

According to Project Breakthrough, digital agriculture can help advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by providing farmers with more information about their farms in real time, allowing them to make smarter and more economical and ecologically sound decisions. Technology allows for better quality and quantity of crop production by consistently taking soil measurements to make sure the crops are growing in optimal conditions. It also allows farmers to use fewer pesticides on their crops when other farmers communicate what exact pests are destroying their harvest, leading to less runoff contamination. With the soil monitoring moisture levels and consistent weather forecasting, it leads to less water waste by giving each plant only enough water to perfectly prosper. Digital agriculture ideally leads to economic growth in the agriculture industry by allowing farmers to get the most production out of their land. This also creates new job opportunities for those who manufacture the necessary technology for the work. Digital agriculture also enables individual farmers to work in concert to collect and share data regarding successful crop production using technology.