David Guthrie: The future of farming: Investing in technology to achieve sustainability

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There’s nothing like a world pandemic to spotlight the significance of meals in our lives — from its well being advantages to considerations about shortages and the complexity of the meals provide chain. However some nations are leapfrogging forward, utilizing expertise to scale back the environmental impression of agriculture whereas bettering the financial sustainability of farmers.

The rising subject of agricultural expertise (Ag-Tech) makes use of the most recent improvements to assist farmers and producers enhance each their processes and their manufacturing — in the end doing extra with much less. And it extends far past robotic milking machines.

Nations such because the U.S., the Netherlands, Eire, New Zealand, Australia and India are main the way in which, in accordance with our newest agri-business analysis. The Netherlands, for instance, could also be geographically small in dimension, however it’s a powerhouse on the planet of Ag-Tech. It’s now the second-largest meals exporter on the planet, and that’s with a inhabitants density of 511 folks per sq. kilometre. In contrast, Canada has a density of 4 folks per sq. kilometre.

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Mental property and farming methods are key export earners for the Netherlands. And Wageningen is among the world’s high agricultural universities. However the Netherlands has additionally achieved its powerhouse standing by means of the usage of refined Ag-Tech, equivalent to LED laboratories, gentle recipes for vegetation, and greenhouses heated with extra information centre server warmth.

Canada ranks seventh on the planet when it comes to our quantity of arable land. But on the subject of the agricultural sector, we lag behind in lots of regards. Right here in B.C., the place agriculture is targeted on greenhouses, dairy, poultry, berries and different crops, farmers and producers have a possibility to make use of Ag-Tech to turn into extra sustainable, reply to labour shortages, and create a safer, more-transparent meals provide.

That is extra essential than ever. In line with Royal Financial institution of Canada’s 2019 Farmer 4.0 report, 1 / 4 of farmers in Canada can be 65 or older by 2025, leading to an anticipated labour scarcity of 123,000 positions by 2030. Regardless of this, the sector’s GDP output may develop from $40 billion to $51 billion over the subsequent decade by means of new abilities and applied sciences.

The potential of Ag-Tech is gigantic, notably in B.C., which is house to greater than 150 Ag-Tech firms that present options starting from drones and robotics to distant sensors and waste applied sciences. These options are responding to new challenges within the agricultural sector — and new alternatives — associated to local weather change, meals safety and pressures on agricultural land.

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For instance, drones can gather information (and use cloud-based software program to investigate that information) for crop mapping, taking inventories of fields and conducting traceability of crops. They may also be used for precision farming — which makes use of expertise equivalent to drones, sensors, GPS steerage, and precision equipment — to assist farmers and producers make extra knowledgeable choices, whether or not that’s serving to them to develop their crops extra effectively or reply quicker to ailments and pests.

Precision farming is also used to find out if the identical crop requires totally different care in a special a part of the sphere, relying on such components as soil sort, moisture stage, and even pests. This may produce a better yield with fewer inputs, which isn’t simply good for customers — it’s additionally good for sustainability efforts.

Precision farming, in flip, contributes to sustainable farming. From a sustainability perspective, Ag-Tech permits farmers and producers to do extra with much less — utilizing much less fertilizer, much less water, and fewer electrical energy to supply much less waste.

Ag-Tech encompasses a spread of applied sciences, from farm administration platforms to good irrigation and local weather monitoring, all of which will help farmers and producers harness the ability of massive information and predictive analytics. This may enhance operations and create a extra sustainable farming mannequin, however it could actually additionally improve traceability, enhance biosecurity, and supply safer meals that higher meets shopper expectations.

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Analysis by KPMG in Australia discovered that 66 per cent of customers worldwide (and 73 per cent of millennial customers) are keen to pay extra for sustainable items. And 77 per cent of customers need transparency of their meals, from its origins to the story behind it.

Ag-Tech continues to be a younger, evolving business, with an thrilling future. With so many new applied sciences in the marketplace, there are nonetheless some limitations to the short, straightforward adoption of Ag-Tech. Farmers and producers have to understand how to decide on, implement and use the appropriate instruments on the proper time. Which means having a strong understanding of use circumstances and foreseeable necessities. Innovation initiatives, equivalent to KPMG’s Ignition Centre, a disruption lab and exponential expertise centre that leverages information, analytics and superior applied sciences in numerous business purposes together with international agriculture, is getting used to uncover and discover such use circumstances.

Governments may make a constructive impression by means of sustained funding to additional help this business and funding to Ag-Tech Hubs between academia and business to foster innovation and construct viable ecosystems.

Advancing meals and agribusiness innovation will create the farm of the longer term, leveraging expertise for “uncooked innovation” — in different phrases, doing extra with much less. It’s additionally important for Canada to be aggressive on the worldwide stage.

With the fast challenges of the pandemic together with longer-term shopper expectations to supply safer, extra sustainable meals merchandise, there’s no higher time for Canadian farmers and producers to embrace Ag-Tech.

David Guthrie is accomplice and nationwide agri-business chief at KPMG. He’s primarily based in Kamloops.