The Potential of Technology in Agriculture and Food — Agritech

Claudia Rössler, Director of Agriculture for Azure Global Engineering Group at Microsoft, discussed the potential of technology in agriculture and food, as part of the Women in Food & Agriculture Digital Festival I recently attended. Rössler highlighted that agritech will be integral as we move towards sustainable food production on large scale.

We are currently seeing an explosion of the use of new sensors in farming, monitoring activities 24/7. Rössler describes this as a connected granular approach to farming. Farmers use this micro-data to make decisions, including precisely when and where to apply fertiliser and exactly how much crop to plant.

The next phase Rössler described is predictive farming, which involves using data from individual sensors in combination with satellites, historical data, AI models and machine learning. By bringing all this data together patterns can be analysed across regions, and not just at an individual level.

The third stage in this road map of agriculture and technology is the cognitive stage. Rössler discussed how we can use data to create virtual models, to simulate what could happen in various farming scenarios. She outlined how individual farming decisions can contribute to this, closing the digital feedback loop. For example, if there is a company personalising feeding solutions for livestock, claiming to make them happier, healthier or more productive, if the farmer does not record if changes occur, it remains unknown whether the prescriptive approach is working.

As an example of the way in which technology can encompass all farming efforts, Rössler used a rural vegetable farm in Africa, owned by Monica, outlining how technology has helped her in a physical way. Monica previously spent seventeen hours per week retrieving water, but after the implementation of a solar powered irrigation system this time has been saved, and her water consumption has decreased by 90%. As a result she is able to grow more produce, and higher value crops.

To conclude, Rössler rightly highlighted the need for multi-disciplinary partnerships in order for agritech to reach its full potential. Sharing data analytics across the industry will allow us to achieve large-scale changes in food and agriculture, that must occur if we are to increase food production in a sustainable and nutritional manner.