DEMYSTIFYING AGRICULTURE 4.0

Agriculture 4.0 supportive digital technologies including the Internet, mobile technologies, sensors, remote sensing, drones, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, are changing agriculture and the food system across the globe.

The global spending on digital transformation technologies (hardware, software, and services) was $1.3 trillion in 2017 and is expected to surpass US$2.1 trillion by 2021 according to IDC.

As per research, the global spending on digital transformation technologies in agriculture or what is referred to as Agriculture 4.0 was close to US$13.25 billion in 2022 and will grow at an average rate of 15% over the next five years. The number swells to US$90 billion if we consider smart equipment and associated infrastructure.

While 22% of companies involved in the food and agriculture sector have embarked on the journey of digitization, less than 30% of those are satisfied with their current status. This is because they have not been able to realize their business goals.

The key reason for them to fail is that most of them tried using technology just to replicate an existing service in a digital form and not to use technology to transform that service into something significantly better. In this article “Demystifying Agriculture 4.0 - Technology Megatrends”, I have taken a dispassionate view of what needs to be done as a technocrat while considering multiple perspectives of a farmer, a food consumer, a policy maker, a financial institution, an agribusiness, and various other stakeholders in agriculture ecosystem.

Agriculture 4.0 - An Overview

The agricultural world is continually changing, with multidimensional forces at play. COVID and Geopolitics leading to pressures on agriculture production and supply chain systems have made these changes becoming more profound. Especially the impact of these new dynamics on global food prices has made the impact more problematic as it threatens the food security of one-fifth of the world population.

Further, the need is for a more serious approach to one of the biggest challenges faced by humanity in the form of the Climate Crisis. The recent impact of climate change on corn or soya in the USA, wheat or rice in India, and many similar production regions are evidence of the fact that climate change will disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality. The projected increases in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, changes in extreme weather events, and reductions in water availability are already resulting in reduced agricultural productivity.

We must look for a reset of the way we conduct our agriculture.

One of the fundamental drivers to address these changes is the digitization of agriculture to enable data-driven decision-making on a real-time basis. Agriculture 4.0 will make the sector more agile to tackle challenges posed by the unprecedented global order.

Agriculture 4.0 can be seen as a subset of the digital economy, which can be defined as the economic activity that results from everyday online connections among people, organizations, and devices with data, and processes at its center. The backbone of Agriculture 4.0 is hyper-connectivity which is catalyzed by the growing interconnectedness of farmers, agribusinesses, policymakers, global regulators, multilateral agencies, markets, and agriculture machines that results from the Internet, mobile technology, and the evolving new business and operational models.

At the core of Agriculture 4.0 is the digital transformation which in simple terms is using the latest technology to do what we already do – but better. As we see going forward two key factors to catalyze Agriculture 4.0 are the ease of connectivity and the multidimensional use of data, both are transforming business models, facilitating new products and services, creating new processes, generating more value, and leading to a new culture of policy making.

Impact of Agriculture 4.0

Agriculture 4.0 supportive digital technologies, including the Internet, mobile technologies, sensors, remote sensing, drones, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, are changing agriculture and the food system across the globe. Digital technologies are impacting agriculture at different stages of the Agri-food value chain for example farm machinery automation allows fine-tuning of inputs and reduces demand for manual labor, remote satellite/drone data, and sensors on the field improve the accuracy and reduce the cost of monitoring crop growth and quality of land or water while traceability technologies, blockchain and digital logistics services offer the potential to streamline food supply chains and create trust amongst the supply chain participants and consumers.

Digital technologies also help governments fine-tune and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of existing policies and programs, and to design new policies which are most relevant and pragmatic. For instance, freely available and high-quality satellite imagery dramatically reduces the cost of monitoring many agricultural activities. This could allow governments to move towards more targeted policies which incentivize farmers based on observed outcomes. Further, digital technologies enable the automation of processes for agriculture and the development of expanded government services, such as extension and advisory services.

Finally, digital technologies can support trade in agriculture and food products, by creating market linkages between producers/suppliers and new markets, and enabling new ways for governments to monitor and ensure compliance with standards and to provide faster and more efficient procedures that are essential, especially for perishable products.

Challenges in the Adoption of Agriculture 4.0

The need is accelerating the urgency for digital transformation to achieve agility, adaptability, and sustainability.

Some of the key challenges in scaling up Agriculture 4.0 include, but are not limited to the adoption of new technologies, the emergence of new business models, agility in the creation of a supportive policy environment, global cooperation in sharing of success and failures, and last but not least the availability of skilled resources.

As we see new technologies, including quantum computing, 5G/6G telecommunication technology, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning all acting as positive green shoots, however, their uneven adoption, especially in the agriculture sector, is creating a digital divide which is going to be a big hurdle.

While we have seen the emergence of new business models in both public and private sectors yet the biggest roadblock is these models are still in the early stages and while we have shortened the transformation curve yet it is too slow and can be a speed bump.

On the policy front, we again see governments and regulators, because of their lack of understanding of modern technologies and models, confused. Policy regimes must catch up with the pace of innovations.

Better cooperation and collaboration globally on Agriculture 4.0 initiatives is the need of the hour yet we still see that not happening as much as is desired. We see a few organizations trying to become the pivot, but we need more decentralized models of collaboration, including a healthy mix of public and private organizations.

Last but not least the severe shortage of appropriately skilled manpower is the biggest threat to the scaling of the digital economy.

Emerging Technologies for Agriculture 4.0

Digital technological advances and transformation can support the goal of achieving more resilient, productive, and sustainable agriculture and food systems, that better meet consumer needs.

We are living in a time when economic paradigms are shifting. Exciting technological innovations are driving transformative change. While many technologies will reshape agriculture a few key ones are listed below:

• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning/Deep Learning: These are a collection of technologies that can be used to solve problems autonomously and perform tasks to achieve defined objectives without explicit guidance from a human being.
• Internet of Things: It is a network of physical objects that can connect to the Internet and seamlessly share data with each other and the central analytical brain on the cloud. These are a collection of technologies in the field of sensor, connectivity, security, and communication protocols.
• Blockchain: It is a software solution comprising algorithms that allow data to be verified and stored in a distributed network, thereby reducing single points of failure, mitigating fraud, and enabling the automated execution of agreements via smart contracts.
• Quantum Computing: It is a type of computation that harnesses the collective properties of quantum states, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement, to perform calculations. Quantum computing has the potential to provide computational power on a scale that traditional computers cannot ever match hence better simulation is key to better prediction of weather, and new variety breeding to name a few.
• 5th and 6th Generation Wireless Technologies: Although it is still early days for 5G wireless technology, top industry players are already busy working on its successor, the 6G Wireless Technology. While 4G gives speeds up to 50 Mbps and latency between 50 milliseconds to 100 milliseconds, 5G gives speeds up to 10 Gbps and latency between 1 millisecond to 10 milliseconds, and 6G is expected to give speeds up to 1 Tbps and latency of 1 microsecond. 5G and 6G will enable computer vision technologies to play a vital role in managing farms more efficiently with better predictive analysis.

Agriculture 4.0 is no longer a luxury but an eminent Necessity!!

If you are interested to know more about Agriculture4.0 join the webinar by Deepak Pareek by registering at https://bit.ly/3fQO1G6

About Author - Deepak Pareek

Deepak is a well-decorated technocrat honored as Top 10 Agropreneur 2019 by Future Agro Challenge and Technology Pioneer 2018 by World Economic Forum. He has also served as a member of the Expert Panel of the World Economic Forum on Digital Transformation. Deepak is an influencer, investor, and advisor in FoodTech and AgTech domains.

Deepak sits on the Board of Directors and Board of Advisors of various AgTech & Food Tech Incubators, Startups, Accelerators, and Venture Capital Firms. He has 22 years of diverse experience working across 34 countries on various projects. He also advised various private, public, and multilateral organizations in the agriculture and technology domain.

Deepak is a global influencer in the agriculture and food space with demonstrated evangelism in the areas of Food Safety & Security, and Digital & Smart Agriculture.