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Works Cited

• Bonessi, Dominique. “GMO Foods Pose Greater Risk to Agriculture than Human Health, Experts Say.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 17 May 2016, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/gmo-foods-pose-greater-risk-to-agriculture-than-human-health-experts-say.
• Buiatti, M, et al. “The Application of GMOs in Agriculture and in Food Production for a Better Nutrition: Two Different Scientific Points of View.” Genes & Nutrition, Springer-Verlag, May 2013, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3639326/.
• “Introduction.” Genetically Modified Organisms, sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/PH/GMOs/GMOs_print.html.
• Raman, Ruchir. “The Impact of Genetically Modified (GM) Crops in Modern Agriculture: A Review.” Taylor & Francis, 28 June 2017, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645698.2017.1413522.
• “The Science and Technology of Agriculture.” IPTV, 26 Oct. 2018, www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath/science-and-technology-agriculture.

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Agriculture’s connected future: How technology can yield new growth

The agriculture industry has radically transformed over the past 50 years. Advances in machinery have expanded the scale, speed, and productivity of farm equipment, leading to more efficient cultivation of more land. Seed, irrigation, and fertilizers also have vastly improved, helping farmers increase yields. Now, agriculture is in the early days of yet another revolution, at the heart of which lie data and connectivity. Artificial intelligence, analytics, connected sensors, and other emerging technologies could further increase yields, improve the efficiency of water and other inputs, and build sustainability and resilience across crop cultivation and animal husbandry.

The future of connectivity

As the world experiences a quantum leap in the speed and scope of digital connections, industries are gaining new and enhanced tools to boost productivity and spur innovation. Over the next decade, existing technologies like fiber, low-power wide-area networks (LPWAN), Wi-Fi 6, low- to mid-band 5G, and short-range connections like radio-frequency identification (RFID) will expand their reach as networks are built out and adoption grows. At the same time, new generations of these technologies will appear, with upgraded standards. In addition, new types of more revolutionary—and more capital-intensive—frontier connectivity, like high-band 5G and low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites, will begin to come online.

Together, these technological developments will unlock powerful new capabilities across industries. Near-global coverage will allow the expansion of use cases even to remote areas and will enable constant connectivity universally. Massive use of Internet of Things (IoT) applications and use cases will be enabled as new technologies allow very high device densities. And mission-critical services will take advantage of ultralow-latency, high-reliability, and high-security connections.

Without a solid connectivity infrastructure, however, none of this is possible. If connectivity is implemented successfully in agriculture, the industry could tack on $500 billion in additional value to the global gross domestic product by 2030, according to our research. This would amount to a 7 to 9 percent improvement from its expected total and would alleviate much of the present pressure on farmers. It is one of just seven sectors that, fueled by advanced connectivity, will contribute $2 trillion to $3 trillion in additional value to global GDP over the next decade, according to research by the McKinsey Center for Advanced Connectivity  and the McKinsey Global Institute  (MGI) (see sidebar “The future of connectivity”).

Demand for food is growing at the same time the supply side faces constraints in land and farming inputs. The world’s population is on track to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, 1 The World Population Prospects: 2015 Revision, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2015. requiring a corresponding 70 percent increase in calories available for consumption, even as the cost of the inputs needed to generate those calories is rising. 2 World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future, United Nations, World Resources Institute, and the World Bank, 2013. By 2030, the water supply will fall 40 percent short of meeting global water needs, 3 World Could Face Water Availability Shortfall by 2030 if Current Trends Continue, Secretary-General Warns at Meeting of High-Level Panel, United Nations, 2016. and rising energy, labor, and nutrient costs are already pressuring profit margins. About one-quarter of arable land is degraded and needs significant restoration before it can again sustain crops at scale. 4 The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture: Managing systems at risk, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Earthscan, 2011. And then there are increasing environmental pressures, such as climate change and the economic impact of catastrophic weather events, and social pressures, including the push for more ethical and sustainable farm practices, such as higher standards for farm-animal welfare and reduced use of chemicals and water.

To address these forces poised to further roil the industry, agriculture must embrace a digital transformation enabled by connectivity. Yet agriculture remains less digitized compared with many other industries globally. Past advances were mostly mechanical, in the form of more powerful and efficient machinery, and genetic, in the form of more productive seed and fertilizers. Now much more sophisticated, digital tools are needed to deliver the next productivity leap. Some already exist to help farmers more efficiently and sustainably use resources, while more advanced ones are in development. These new technologies can upgrade decision making, allowing better risk and variability management to optimize yields and improve economics. Deployed in animal husbandry, they can enhance the well-being of livestock, addressing the growing concerns over animal welfare.

Demand for food is growing at the same time the supply side faces constraints in land and farming inputs.

But the industry confronts two significant obstacles. Some regions lack the necessary connectivity infrastructure, making development of it paramount. In regions that already have a connectivity infrastructure, farms have been slow to deploy digital tools because their impact has not been sufficiently proven.

The COVID-19 crisis has further intensified other challenges agriculture faces in five areas: efficiency, resilience, digitization, agility, and sustainability. Lower sales volumes have pressured margins, exacerbating the need for farmers to contain costs further. Gridlocked global supply chains have highlighted the importance of having more local providers, which could increase the resilience of smaller farms. In this global pandemic, heavy reliance on manual labor has further affected farms whose workforces face mobility restrictions. Additionally, significant environmental benefits from decreased travel and consumption during the crisis are likely to drive a desire for more local, sustainable sourcing, requiring producers to adjust long-standing practices. In short, the crisis has accentuated the necessity of more widespread digitization and automation, while suddenly shifting demand and sales channels have underscored the value of agile adaptation.

Current connectivity in agriculture

In recent years, many farmers have begun to consult data about essential variables like soil, crops, livestock, and weather. Yet few if any have had access to advanced digital tools that would help to turn these data into valuable, actionable insights. In less-developed regions, almost all farmwork is manual, involving little or no advanced connectivity or equipment.

Even in the United States, a pioneer country in connectivity, only about one-quarter of farms currently use any connected equipment or devices to access data, and that technology isn’t exactly state-of-the-art, running on 2G or 3G networks that telcos plan to dismantle or on very low-band IoT networks that are complicated and expensive to set up. In either case, those networks can support only a limited number of devices and lack the performance for real-time data transfer, which is essential to unlock the value of more advanced and complex use cases.

Nonetheless, current IoT technologies running on 3G and 4G cellular networks are in many cases sufficient to enable simpler use cases, such as advanced monitoring of crops and livestock. In the past, however, the cost of hardware was high, so the business case for implementing IoT in farming did not hold up. Today, device and hardware costs are dropping rapidly, and several providers now offer solutions at a price we believe will deliver a return in the first year of investment.

These simpler tools are not enough, though, to unlock all the potential value that connectivity holds for agriculture. To attain that, the industry must make full use of digital applications and analytics, which will require low latency, high bandwidth, high resiliency, and support for a density of devices offered by advanced and frontier connectivity technologies like LPWAN, 5G, and LEO satellites (Exhibit 1).

The challenge the industry is facing is thus twofold: infrastructure must be developed to enable the use of connectivity in farming, and where connectivity already exists, strong business cases must be made in order for solutions to be adopted. The good news is that connectivity coverage is increasing almost everywhere. By 2030, we expect advanced connectivity infrastructure of some type to cover roughly 80 percent of the world’s rural areas; the notable exception is Africa, where only a quarter of its area will be covered. The key, then, is to develop more—and more effective—digital tools for the industry and to foster widespread adoption of them.

As connectivity increasingly takes hold, these tools will enable new capabilities in agriculture:

• Massive Internet of Things. Low-power networks and cheaper sensors will set the stage for the IoT to scale up, enabling such use cases as precision irrigation of field crops, monitoring of large herds of livestock, and tracking of the use and performance of remote buildings and large fleets of machinery.
• Mission-critical services. Ultralow latency and improved stability of connections will foster confidence to run applications that demand absolute reliability and responsiveness, such as operating autonomous machinery and drones.
• Near-global coverage. If LEO satellites attain their potential, they will enable even the most remote rural areas of the world to use extensive digitization, which will enhance global farming productivity.

Connectivity’s potential for value creation

By the end of the decade, enhanced connectivity in agriculture could add more than $500 billion to global gross domestic product, a critical productivity improvement of 7 to 9 percent for the industry. 5 This represents our estimate of the total potential for value added in agricultural production; it is not an estimate of the agritech and precision-agriculture market size. Much of that value, however, will require investments in connectivity that today are largely absent from agriculture. Other industries already use technologies like LPWAN, cloud computing, and cheaper, better sensors requiring minimal hardware, which can significantly reduce the necessary investment. We have analyzed five use cases—crop monitoring, livestock monitoring, building and equipment management, drone farming, and autonomous farming machinery—where enhanced connectivity is already in the early stages of being used and is most likely to deliver the higher yields, lower costs, and greater resilience and sustainability that the industry needs to thrive in the 21st century (Exhibit 2).

It’s important to note that use cases do not apply equally across regions. For example, in North America, where yields are already fairly optimized, monitoring solutions do not have the same potential for value creation as in Asia or Africa, where there is much more room to improve productivity. Drones and autonomous machinery will deliver more impact to advanced markets, as technology will likely be more readily available there (Exhibit 3).

About the use-case research

The value of our agriculture-connectivity use cases resides primarily in labor efficiencies, input optimization, yield increases, reduced overhead, and improvements in operation and maintenance of machinery. Each use case enables a series of improvement levers in those areas that promise to enhance the productivity of farming (exhibit).

We applied those levers to the profitability drivers of agricultural production to derive an economic potential for the industry as a whole. For example, a use case might enable a 5 to 10 percent reduction in fertilizer usage, saving costs for the farmer, or enable 3 percent higher yields, leading to greater revenues for the farmer. In fact, higher yields represent the largest opportunity, with advanced connectivity potentially adding some $350 billion of value to global food production without additional inputs or labor costs.

Potential value initially will accrue to large farms that have more investing power and better incentives to digitize. Connectivity promises easier surveying of large tracts, and the fixed costs of developing IoT solutions are more easily offset in large production facilities than on small family farms. Crops like cereals, grains, fruits, and vegetables will generate most of the value we identified, for similar reasons. Connectivity enables more use cases in these sectors than in meat and dairy, because of the large average size of farms, relatively higher player consolidation, and better applicability of connected technologies, as IoT networks are especially adapted to static monitoring of many variables. It’s also interesting to note that Asia should garner about 60 percent of the total value simply because it produces the biggest volume of crops (see sidebar “About the use-case research”).

Use case 1: Crop monitoring

Connectivity offers a variety of ways to improve the observation and care of crops. Integrating weather data, irrigation, nutrient, and other systems could improve resource use and boost yields by more accurately identifying and predicting deficiencies. For instance, sensors deployed to monitor soil conditions could communicate via LPWAN, directing sprinklers to adjust water and nutrient application. Sensors could also deliver imagery from remote corners of fields to assist farmers in making more informed and timely decisions and getting early warnings of problems like disease or pests.

Smart monitoring could also help farmers optimize the harvesting window. Monitoring crops for quality characteristics—say, sugar content and fruit color—could help farmers maximize the revenue from their crops.

Most IoT networks today cannot support imagery transfer between devices, let alone autonomous imagery analysis, nor can they support high enough device numbers and density to monitor large fields accurately. Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and 5G promise to solve these bandwidth and connection-density issues. The use of more and smoother connections between soil, farm equipment, and farm managers could unlock $130 billion to $175 billion in value by 2030.

Use case 2: Livestock monitoring

Preventing disease outbreaks and spotting animals in distress are critical in large-scale livestock management, where most animals are raised in close quarters on a regimen that ensures they move easily through a highly automated processing system. Chips and body sensors that measure temperature, pulse, and blood pressure, among other indicators, could detect illnesses early, preventing herd infection and improving food quality. Farmers are already using ear-tag technology from providers such as Smartbow (part of Zoetis) to monitor cows’ heat, health, and location, or technology from companies such as Allflex to implement comprehensive electronic tracing in case of disease outbreaks.

Similarly, environmental sensors could trigger automatic adjustments in ventilation or heating in barns, lessening distress and improving living conditions that increasingly concern consumers. Better monitoring of animal health and growth conditions could produce $70 billion to $90 billion in value by 2030.

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Use case 3: building and equipment management.

Chips and sensors to monitor and measure levels of silos and warehouses could trigger automated reordering, reducing inventory costs for farmers, many of whom are already using such systems from companies like Blue Level Technologies. Similar tools could also improve shelf life of inputs and reduce post-harvest losses by monitoring and automatically optimizing storage conditions. Monitoring conditions and usage of buildings and equipment also has the potential to reduce energy consumption. Computer vision and sensors attached to equipment and connected to predictive-maintenance systems could decrease repair costs and extend machinery and equipment life.

Such solutions could achieve $40 billion to $60 billion in cost savings by 2030.

Use case 4: Farming by drone

Agriculture has been using drones for some two decades, with farmers around the world relying on pioneers like Yamaha’s RMAX remote-controlled helicopter to help with crop spraying. Now the next generation of drones is starting to impact the sector, with the ability to survey crops and herds over vast areas quickly and efficiently or as a relay system for ferrying real-time data to other connected equipment and installations. Drones also could use computer vision to analyze field conditions and deliver precise interventions like fertilizers, nutrients, and pesticides where crops most need them. Or they could plant seed in remote locations, lowering equipment and workforce costs. By reducing costs and improving yields, the use of drones could generate between $85 billion and $115 billion in value.

Use case 5: Autonomous farming machinery

More precise GPS controls paired with computer vision and sensors could advance the deployment of smart and autonomous farm machinery. Farmers could operate a variety of equipment on their field simultaneously and without human intervention, freeing up time and other resources. Autonomous machines are also more efficient and precise at working a field than human-operated ones, which could generate fuel savings and higher yields. Increasing the autonomy of machinery through better connectivity could create $50 billion to $60 billion of additional value by 2030.

Additional sources of value

Connected technologies offer an additional, indirect benefit, the value of which is not included in the estimates given in these use cases. The global farming industry is highly fragmented, with most labor done by individual farm owners. Particularly in Asia and Africa, few farms employ outside workers. On such farms, the adoption of connectivity solutions should free significant time for farmers, which they can use to farm additional land for pay or to pursue work outside the industry.

We find the value of deploying advanced connectivity on these farms to achieve such labor efficiencies represents almost $120 billion, bringing the total value of enhanced connectivity from direct and indirect outcomes to more than $620 billion by 2030. The extent to which this value will be captured, however, relies largely on advanced connectivity coverage, which is expected to be fairly low, around 25 percent, in Africa and poorer parts of Asia and Latin America. Achieving the critical mass of adopters needed to make a business case for deploying advanced connectivity also will be more difficult in those regions, where farming is more fragmented than in North America and Europe.

Connected world: An evolution in connectivity beyond the 5G revolution

Implications for the agricultural ecosystem.

As the agriculture industry digitizes, new pockets of value will likely be unlocked. To date, input providers selling seed, nutrients, pesticides, and equipment have played a critical role in the data ecosystem because of their close ties with farmers, their own knowledge of agronomy, and their track record of innovation. For example, one of the world’s largest fertilizer distributors now offers both fertilizing agents and software that analyzes field data to help farmers determine where to apply their fertilizers and in what quantity. Similarly, a large-equipment manufacturer is developing precision controls that make use of satellite imagery and vehicle-to-vehicle connections to improve the efficiency of field equipment.

Advanced connectivity does, however, give new players an opportunity to enter the space. For one thing, telcos and LPWAN providers have an essential role to play in installing the connectivity infrastructure needed to enable digital applications on farms. They could partner with public authorities and other agriculture players to develop public or private rural networks, capturing some of the new value in the process.

Agritech companies are another example of the new players coming into the agriculture sphere. They specialize in offering farmers innovative products that make use of technology and data to improve decision making and thereby increase yields and profits. Such agritech enterprises could proffer solutions and pricing models that reduce perceived risk for farmers—with, for example, subscription models that remove the initial investment burden and allow farmers to opt out at any time—likely leading to faster adoption of their products. An Italian agritech is doing this by offering to monitor irrigation and crop protection for wineries at a seasonal, per-acre fee inclusive of hardware installation, data collection and analysis, and decision support. Agritech also could partner with agribusinesses to develop solutions.

Still, much of this cannot happen until many rural areas get access to a high-speed broadband network. We envision three principal ways the necessary investment could take place to make this a reality:

• Telco-driven deployment. Though the economics of high-bandwidth rural networks have generally been poor, telcos could benefit from a sharp increase in rural demand for their bandwidth as farmers embrace advanced applications and integrated solutions.
• Provider-driven deployment. Input providers, with their existing industry knowledge and relationships, are probably best positioned to take the lead in connectivity-related investment. They could partner with telcos or LPWAN businesses to develop rural connectivity networks and then offer farmers business models integrating connected technology and product and decision support.
• Farmer-driven deployment. Farm owners, alone or in tandem with LPWAN groups or telcos, could also drive investment. This would require farmers to develop the knowledge and skills to gather and analyze data locally, rather than through third parties, which is no small hurdle. But farmers would retain more control over data.

How to do it

Regardless of which group drives the necessary investment for connectivity in agriculture, no single entity will be able to go it alone. All of these advances will require the industry’s main actors to embrace collaboration as an essential aspect of doing business. Going forward, winners in delivering connectivity to agriculture will need deep capabilities across various domains, ranging from knowledge of farm operations to advanced data analytics and the ability to offer solutions that integrate easily and smoothly with other platforms and adjacent industries. For example, data gathered by autonomous tractors should seamlessly flow to the computer controlling irrigation devices, which in turn should be able to use weather-station data to optimize irrigation plans.

Connectivity pioneers in the industry, however, have already started developing these new capabilities internally. Organizations prefer keeping proprietary data on operations internal for confidentiality and competitive reasons. This level of control also makes the data easier to analyze and helps the organization be more responsive to evolving client needs.

But developing new capabilities is not the end game. Agriculture players able to develop partnerships with telcos or LPWAN players will gain significant leverage in the new connected-agriculture ecosystem. Not only will they be able to procure connectivity hardware more easily and affordably through those partnerships, they will also be better positioned to develop close relationships with farmers as connectivity becomes a strategic issue. Input providers or distributors could thus find themselves in a connectivity race. If input providers manage to develop such partnerships, they could connect directly with farmers and cut out distributors entirely. If distributors win that race, they will consolidate their position in the value chain by remaining an essential intermediary, closer to the needs of farmers.

The public sector also could play a role by improving the economics of developing broadband networks, particularly in rural areas. For example, the German and Korean governments have played a major role in making network development more attractive by heavily subsidizing spectrum or providing tax breaks to telcos. 6 “Das Breitbandförderprogramm des Bundes” [in German], Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur, 2020, bmvi.de; 5G in Korea: Volume 1: Get a taste of the future, Samsung Electronics, 2019, samsungnetworks.com. Other regions could replicate this model, accelerating development of connective products by cost-effectively giving input providers and agritech companies assurance of a backbone over which they could deliver services. Eventual deployment of LEO satellite constellations would likely have a similar impact.

Agriculture, one of the world’s oldest industries, finds itself at a technological crossroads. To handle increasing demand and several disruptive trends successfully, the industry will need to overcome the challenges to deploying advanced connectivity. This will require significant investment in infrastructure and a realignment of traditional roles. It is a huge but critical undertaking, with more than $500 billion in value at stake. The success and sustainability of one of the planet’s oldest industries may well depend on this technology transformation, and those that embrace it at the outset may be best positioned to thrive in agriculture’s connectivity-driven future.

Lutz Goedde is a senior partner and global leader of McKinsey’s Agriculture Practice in the Denver office; Joshua Katz is a partner in the Stamford office; and Alexandre Menard is a senior partner in the Paris office, where Julien Revellat is an associate partner.

The authors wish to thank Nicolas D. Estais, Claus Gerckens, Vincent Tourangeau, and the McKinsey Center for Advanced Connectivity for their contributions to the article.

This article was edited by Daniel Eisenberg, a senior editor in the New York office.

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Journal of Political Ecology

Journal of Political Ecology , Glenn Stone

In the influential "performance" model of agriculture, the appearance of the farm is the unintentional result of improvisational decision-making rather than the intentional result of design. However in many ways agriculture is explicitly intended to produce an appearance, often aimed at a specific audience. This phenomenon, termed agricultural spectacle, comes in many forms and serves varied aims. This article offers a theoretical framework beginning with a consideration of how agricultural spectacle differs from other classes of spectacle and from generalized societal spectacle as theorized by Debord. Most important in this regard is that agricultural spectacle generally functions as a form of synecdoche as it presents a temporal or spatial part as a representation of the whole agricultural operation. It also often relies on "captioning" to render ambiguous sights striking to viewers. But agricultural spectacle is highly diverse, as shown by exploring three axes of variation. The first axis concerns the extent to which agricultural activities are adjusted for their impact on viewers, as opposed to being conducted purely for utility and rendered spectacular after the fact. The second compares the intent of the agricultural spectacle. The last axis distinguishes scale, from plant part to field to farm to landscape. Dans le modèle influent de «performance» de l'agriculture, l'apparence de la ferme est le résultat involontaire de la prise de décision en matière d'improvisation plutôt que le résultat intentionnel de la conception. Cependant, à bien des égards, l'agriculture vise explicitement à produire une apparence, souvent destinée à un public spécifique. Ce phénomène, appelé «spectacle agricole», prend de nombreuses formes et sert des objectifs variés. Cet article propose un cadre théorique commençant par une réflexion sur la différence entre le spectacle agricole et les autres classes de spectacle et sur le spectacle sociétal généralisé tel que théorisé par Debord. Le plus important à cet égard est que le spectacle agricole fonctionne généralement comme une forme de synecdoche car il présente une partie temporelle ou spatiale en tant que représentation de l'ensemble de l'exploitation agricole. Il repose également souvent sur le «sous-titrage» pour rendre les vues ambiguës frappantes pour les téléspectateurs. Mais le spectacle agricole est très diversifié, car l'exploration de trois axes de variation sera révélée. Le premier axe concerne la mesure dans laquelle les activités agricoles sont ajustées en fonction de leur impact sur les téléspectateurs, au lieu d'être menées uniquement pour des raisons d'utilité et rendues spectaculaires après l'événement. La seconde compare l'intention du spectacle agricole. Le dernier axe distingue l'échelle, d'une partie d'une plante à un champ, à une ferme et à un paysage. En el influyente modelo del "performance" de agricultura, la apariencia de la granja es el resultado involuntario de la improvisada toma de decisiones, más que el resultado intencional del diseño. Sin embargo, la agricultura es, en muchos sentidos, explícitamente planeada para producir una apariencia normalmente dirigida a una audiencia particular. Este fenómeno, denominado espectáculo agrícola, se presenta de diversas formas y tiene varios objetivos. Este artículo ofrece un marco teórico que comienza considerando cómo el espectáculo agrícola difiere de otros tipos de espectáculo, así como de espectáculos sociales generalizados, tal como Debord teoriza. Aún más importante en este sentido, es que el espectáculo agrícola funciona normalmente como una forma de sinécdoque, al presentar una parte temporal o espacial como una representación de la operación agrícola completa. Frecuentemente también depende de un “subtitulado” que traduce impresiones ambiguas que resultan impactantes para los espectadores. Pero el espectáculo agrícola es muy diverso, como se demuestra al explorar tres ejes de variación. El primer eje refiere que tanto las actividades agrícolas se ajustan para su impacto en los espectadores, contrario a cuando están dirigidas únicamente por su utilidad y representada espectacularmente luego del hecho. El segundo eje compara la intención del espectáculo agrícola. El último eje distingue la escala, desde la parte de la planta al campo, a la granja y al paisaje.

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Better farming through nanotechnology: An argument for applying medical insights to agriculture

by Jules Bernstein, University of California - Riverside

Advanced technologies enable the controlled release of medicine to specific cells in the body. Scientists argue these same technologies must be applied to agriculture if growers are to meet increasing global food demands.

In a Nature Nanotechnology journal review paper , scientists from UC Riverside and Carnegie Mellon University highlight some of the best-known strategies for improving agriculture with nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is an umbrella term for the study and design of microscopically small things. How small? A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Using nanotechnology, drugs can now be delivered where they're most needed. But these insights have yet to be applied to plant science on a large scale.

"There are studies predicting we will need to increase food production by up to 60% in 2050 relative to 2020 levels. Right now, we are trying to do that through inefficient agrochemical delivery," said Juan Pablo Giraldo, UCR associate professor and paper co-corresponding author.

"Half of all the fertilizer applied on farms is lost in the environment and pollutes the groundwater. In the case of commonly used pesticides, it's even worse. Only 5% reach their intended targets. The rest ends up contaminating the environment. There is a lot of room for improvement," Giraldo said.

Currently, agriculture accounts for up to 28% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This, in addition to a range of other factors from extreme weather events to rampant crop pests and rapidly degrading soil, underlines the need for new agricultural practices and technologies.

In their review, the researchers highlight specific approaches borrowed from nanomedicine that could be used to deliver pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides to specific biological targets.

"We are pioneering targeted delivery technologies based on coating nanomaterials with sugars or peptides that recognize specific proteins on plant cells and organelles," Giraldo said. "This allows us to take the existing molecular machinery of the plant and guide desired chemicals to where the plant needs it, for example the plant vasculature, organelles, or sites of plant pathogen infections."

Doing this could make plants more resilient to disease and harmful environmental factors like extreme heat or high salt content in soil. This type of delivery would also be a much greener approach, with fewer off-target effects in the environment.

Another strategy discussed in the paper is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a "digital twin." Medical researchers use computational models or "digital patients" to simulate how medicines interact with and move within the body. Plant researchers can do the same to design nanocarrier molecules that deliver nutrients or other agrochemicals to plant organs where they're most needed.

"It's like J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) from the film Iron Man. Essentially an artificial intelligence guide to help design nanoparticles with controlled delivery properties for agriculture," Giraldo said. "We can follow up these twin simulations with real-life plant experiments for feedback on the models."

"Nano-enabled precision delivery of active agents in plants will transform agriculture, but there are critical technical challenges that we must first overcome to realize the full range of its benefits," said Greg Lowry, Carnegie Mellon engineering professor and co-corresponding author of the review paper.

"I'm optimistic about the future of plant nanobiotechnology approaches and the beneficial impacts it will have on our ability to sustainably produce food."

Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology

Provided by University of California - Riverside

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• DOI: 10.1021/acsagscitech.4c00290
• Corpus ID: 270290924

Artificial Intelligence for Precision and Sustainable Agricultural

• Ramesh Raliya
• Published in ACS Agricultural Science &amp… 5 June 2024
• Agricultural and Food Sciences, Computer Science
• ACS Agricultural Science & Technology

3 References

Digital twins in agriculture: orchestration and applications, how technology is helping farmers grow more food with less chemicals, nanofertilizer for precision and sustainable agriculture: current state and future perspectives., related papers.

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Regional assessment at the province level of agricultural science and technology development in china.

1. Introduction

2. methodology, 2.1. framework construction and indicator selection, 2.2. weighing indicators and data source, 2.2.1. normalization of indicators, 2.2.2. weighting indicators, 3.1. analysis of the astd index, 3.2. analysis of pillar 1: contribution, 3.3. analysis of pillar 2: technical efficiency, 3.4. analysis of pillar 3: innovation conditions, 3.5. analysis of pillar 4: knowledge and technology outputs, 3.6. analysis of the four pillars, 4. discussion, 5. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Lei, X.; Li, J.; Li, H.; Yan, J.; Li, P.; Guo, Y.; Huang, X.; Zheng, Y.; Yang, S.; Hu, Y.; et al. Regional Assessment at the Province Level of Agricultural Science and Technology Development in China. Agriculture 2023 , 13 , 389. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13020389

Lei X, Li J, Li H, Yan J, Li P, Guo Y, Huang X, Zheng Y, Yang S, Hu Y, et al. Regional Assessment at the Province Level of Agricultural Science and Technology Development in China. Agriculture . 2023; 13(2):389. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13020389

Lei, Xinyu, Jinna Li, Hao Li, Jvping Yan, Panfeng Li, Yifan Guo, Xinhui Huang, Yuting Zheng, Shaopeng Yang, Yimin Hu, and et al. 2023. "Regional Assessment at the Province Level of Agricultural Science and Technology Development in China" Agriculture 13, no. 2: 389. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13020389

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Essay on Impact Of Technology On Agriculture

Students are often asked to write an essay on Impact Of Technology On Agriculture in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Impact Of Technology On Agriculture

Improving crop growth.

Technology helps farmers grow more food. Machines like tractors make preparing soil easy. Seeds are planted quickly with special tools. There are even computers that tell farmers the best time to plant. This means more crops can grow and people have plenty of food.

Protecting Plants from Pests

Keeping track of farms.

Drones fly over fields and take pictures. These images show which parts of the farm need more water or fertilizer. This helps farmers take care of their crops better and saves them time and money.

Climate and Weather

Technology predicts the weather accurately. Farmers know when it will rain or be too hot. They can plan when to water the plants or when to harvest. This way, bad weather does less harm to the crops.

Storing Food Properly

250 words essay on impact of technology on agriculture, technology makes farming easier.

Long ago, farmers had to work the land with their hands and simple tools. Now, machines do many tasks, making work faster and less tiring. Tractors plow fields in a day, which once took weeks. Machines also plant seeds and harvest crops. This means farmers can grow more food with less effort.

Better Crop Care with Technology

Technology helps farmers take care of plants better. There are special sensors that tell farmers how much water each plant needs. This way, not a single drop is wasted. Drones fly over fields to spot sick plants. Then, farmers can make them healthy before it’s too late. This helps to make sure more plants grow well and are ready to eat.

Keeping Track with Computers

Farmers use computers to keep an eye on their farms. They can see how much food they grow and how their animals are doing. Computers help them make smart choices. For example, they can find out the best time to sell their crops or when to buy new seeds.

Staying Safe from Bad Weather

Bad weather can destroy crops. But now, with new technology, farmers can be ready. They get weather reports on their phones and can protect their plants before storms hit. Some even use big covers to shield their crops from too much sun or rain.

In conclusion, technology has changed farming a lot. It makes growing food easier, helps farmers take better care of their plants, keeps track of farm details, and protects crops from bad weather. All this means we have more food on our tables every day.

500 Words Essay on Impact Of Technology On Agriculture

Introduction to technology in farming, better farming tools and machines.

One big change technology has brought to farming is better tools and machines. Before, farmers had to do a lot of hard work with their hands or use animals to help them. Now, there are machines like tractors, planters, and harvesters. These machines can do the work faster and save a lot of time. They can also be very precise, which means they make fewer mistakes, like planting seeds at the perfect depth in the soil.

Keeping Plants Healthy

Technology also helps farmers keep their plants healthy. There are special computers and apps that tell farmers when to water their plants or if a plant is sick. This is great because it means farmers can use less water and fewer chemicals, which is better for the earth. Drones, which are like small flying robots, can fly over fields and take pictures so farmers can see if all the plants are healthy or if some parts of the field need more care.

Understanding the Weather

Another helpful part of technology in farming is being able to understand the weather better. There are tools that can check the weather and tell farmers what it will be like in the future. This is important because if a farmer knows it will rain soon, they might decide not to water their crops that day. Or if they know it will be very cold, they can protect their plants to make sure they don’t freeze.

Helping Animals

Storing and moving food.

After the food is grown, technology helps keep it fresh and gets it to the stores where we buy it. There are big refrigerators that can keep fruits and vegetables cold so they don’t spoil. There are also trucks and ships with special coolers that can move food from the farm to the store without it going bad.

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Agriculture Technology

Modern farms and agricultural operations work far differently than those a few decades ago, primarily because of advancements in technology, including sensors, devices, machines, and information technology. Today’s agriculture routinely uses sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technology . These advanced devices and precision agriculture  and robotic systems  allow businesses to be more profitable, efficient, safer, and more environmentally friendly.

Importance of Agricultural Technology

Farmers no longer have to apply water, fertilizers, and pesticides uniformly across entire fields. Instead, they can use the minimum quantities required and target very specific areas, or even treat individual plants differently. Benefits include:

• Higher crop productivity
• Decreased  use of water, fertilizer, and pesticides, which in turn keeps food prices down
• Reduced impact on natural ecosystems
• Less runoff of chemicals into rivers and groundwater
• Increased worker safety

In addition, robotic technologies enable more reliable monitoring and management of natural resources, such as air and water quality. It also gives producers greater control over plant and animal production, processing, distribution, and storage, which results in:

• Greater efficiencies and lower prices
• Safer growing conditions and safer foods
• Reduced environmental and ecological impact

NIFA’s Impact

NIFA advances agricultural technology and ensures that the nation’s agricultural industries are able to utilize it by supporting:

• Basic research and development in physical sciences, engineering, and computer sciences
• Development of agricultural devices, sensors, and systems
• Applied research that assesses how to employ technologies economically and with minimal disruption to existing practices
• Assistance and instruction to farmers on how to use new technologies

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Science and History of GMOs and Other Food Modification Processes

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How has genetic engineering changed plant and animal breeding?

Did you know.

Genetic engineering is often used in combination with traditional breeding to produce the genetically engineered plant varieties on the market today.

For thousands of years, humans have been using traditional modification methods like selective breeding and cross-breeding to breed plants and animals with more desirable traits. For example, early farmers developed cross-breeding methods to grow corn with a range of colors, sizes, and uses. Today’s strawberries are a cross between a strawberry species native to North America and a strawberry species native to South America.

Most of the foods we eat today were created through traditional breeding methods. But changing plants and animals through traditional breeding can take a long time, and it is difficult to make very specific changes. After scientists developed genetic engineering in the 1970s, they were able to make similar changes in a more specific way and in a shorter amount of time.

A Timeline of Genetic Modification in Agriculture

A Timeline of Genetic Modification in Modern Agriculture

Circa 8000 BCE: Humans use traditional modification methods like selective breeding and cross-breeding to breed plants and animals with more desirable traits.

1866: Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, breeds two different types of peas and identifies the basic process of genetics.

1922: The first hybrid corn is produced and sold commercially.

1940: Plant breeders learn to use radiation or chemicals to randomly change an organism’s DNA.

1953: Building on the discoveries of chemist Rosalind Franklin, scientists James Watson and Francis Crick identify the structure of DNA.

1973: Biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen develop genetic engineering by inserting DNA from one bacteria into another.

1982: FDA approves the first consumer GMO product developed through genetic engineering: human insulin to treat diabetes.

1986: The federal government establishes the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology. This policy describes how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) work together to regulate the safety of GMOs.

1992: FDA policy states that foods from GMO plants must meet the same requirements, including the same safety standards, as foods derived from traditionally bred plants.

1994: The first GMO produce created through genetic engineering—a GMO tomato—becomes available for sale after studies evaluated by federal agencies proved it to be as safe as traditionally bred tomatoes.

1990s: The first wave of GMO produce created through genetic engineering becomes available to consumers: summer squash, soybeans, cotton, corn, papayas, tomatoes, potatoes, and canola. Not all are still available for sale.

2003: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations develop international guidelines and standards to determine the safety of GMO foods.

2005: GMO alfalfa and sugar beets are available for sale in the United States.

2015: FDA approves an application for the first genetic modification in an animal for use as food, a genetically engineered salmon.

2016: Congress passes a law requiring labeling for some foods produced through genetic engineering and uses the term “bioengineered,” which will start to appear on some foods.

2017: GMO apples are available for sale in the U.S.

2019: FDA completes consultation on first food from a genome edited plant.

2020 : GMO pink pineapple is available to U.S. consumers.

2020 : Application for GalSafe pig was approved.

How are GMOs made?

“GMO” (genetically modified organism) has become the common term consumers and popular media use to describe foods that have been created through genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is a process that involves:

• Identifying the genetic information—or “gene”—that gives an organism (plant, animal, or microorganism) a desired trait
• Copying that information from the organism that has the trait
• Inserting that information into the DNA of another organism
• Then growing the new organism

How Are GMOs Made? Fact Sheet

Making a GMO Plant, Step by Step

The following example gives a general idea of the steps it takes to create a GMO plant. This example uses a type of insect-resistant corn called “Bt corn.” Keep in mind that the processes for creating a GMO plant, animal, or microorganism may be different.

To produce a GMO plant, scientists first identify what trait they want that plant to have, such as resistance to drought, herbicides, or insects. Then, they find an organism (plant, animal, or microorganism) that already has that trait within its genes. In this example, scientists wanted to create insect-resistant corn to reduce the need to spray pesticides. They identified a gene in a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) , which produces a natural insecticide that has been in use for many years in traditional and organic agriculture.

After scientists find the gene with the desired trait, they copy that gene.

For Bt corn, they copied the gene in Bt that would provide the insect-resistance trait.

Next, scientists use tools to insert the gene into the DNA of the plant. By inserting the Bt gene into the DNA of the corn plant, scientists gave it the insect resistance trait.

This new trait does not change the other existing traits.

In the laboratory, scientists grow the new corn plant to ensure it has adopted the desired trait (insect resistance). If successful, scientists first grow and monitor the new corn plant (now called Bt corn because it contains a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis) in greenhouses and then in small field tests before moving it into larger field tests. GMO plants go through in-depth review and tests before they are ready to be sold to farmers.

The entire process of bringing a GMO plant to the marketplace takes several years.

Learn more about the process for creating genetically engineered microbes and genetically engineered animals .

What are the latest scientific advances in plant and animal breeding?

Scientists are developing new ways to create new varieties of crops and animals using a process called genome editing . These techniques can make changes more quickly and precisely than traditional breeding methods.

There are several genome editing tools, such as CRISPR . Scientists can use these newer genome editing tools to make crops more nutritious, drought tolerant, and resistant to insect pests and diseases.

Learn more about Genome Editing in Agricultural Biotechnology .

How GMOs Are Regulated in the United States

GMO Crops, Animal Food, and Beyond

How GMO Crops Impact Our World

www.fda.gov/feedyourmind

Celebrating Science & Innovation in Agriculture

A story by:.

Agriculture today is about so much more than a farmer simply planting a seed, rearing a cow or catching a fish. It takes a whole ecosystem and a host of actors to work together to produce the food we need for a population of more than eight billion people.

This complex agricultural production system has evolved over time through scientific discoveries and other innovations. It is this dynamic nature that will equip agriculture to cope with the competing challenges of addressing food and nutrition security, improving livelihoods, combatting climate change and sustainably managing natural resources.

Let’s take a closer look at “science and innovation” in agriculture: the ways it works, the benefits it provides and the future challenges it must still help us to overcome.

Natural Resource Management

The world’s 570 million farmers are arguably the most important stewards of the earth’s land, water and biodiversity. Worldwide, farming uses  around 40% of total land area , two-thirds of water withdrawals and 85% of water consumption today. This is up from  around 7% of total land area  back in the year 1700 when the population was less than 10% of what it is today.

Advances in technology and farming practices have helped farmers become much more productive, growing crops efficiently in areas most suitable for agricultural production.

Without these advances, far more land would need to be cultivated to produce the food we need today. For instance, it has been estimated that we could produce the same amount of total food grown fifty years ago on less than one-third the amount of land used back then. If yields had stayed the same since 1961, we’d need to cultivate  more than double the amount of land  to feed the population today – a shift from 12.2 billion acres to at least 26.3 billion acres. That’s 82% of our total land area on earth.

Similarly, farmers tend to use water more efficiently as their yields increase. According to the  International Water Management Institute , a farmer who grows about eight times the yield of another farmer uses only about three times as much water to do so.

In the coastal region of southern Bangladesh, soil salinity and a shortage of water for irrigation typically keep farmers from growing a crop in the dry season. However, a group of innovative women farmers is increasing production of maize, wheat and mung bean during the dry season despite these challenges. Key to their success has been using simple machinery to reduce tillage. This allows for earlier planting and keep crop residues on the soil surface to conserve soil moisture and reduce salinity. The women have also used crop varieties that mature faster.

In central Bangladesh, where the cost of irrigation and farm labour is skyrocketing, farmers and local service providers are teaming up to plant wheat, maize and legumes on raised beds to reduce labour and water requirements.

The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia in Bangladesh (CSISA-BD) are working in partnership with the Regional Wheat Research Consortium of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute on this initiative.

Indonesia’s rich landscape makes it ideal for cultivating commodities like palm oil. Yet the increasing incidence of farmers burning land to bring it into production is having grave environmental consequences. Satellite-mapping company DigitalGlobe is working with the World Resources Institute in Indonesia to create a better picture of the earth’s surface, as part of the “Global Forest Watch” (GFW) initiative. Global Forest Watch is an interactive online forest monitoring and alert system designed to empower people everywhere with the information they need to better manage and conserve forest landscapes.

DigitalGlobe’s technology in Indonesia enables the team to see high-resolution visuals of fires and haze patterns that are affecting the environment. The images are then passed on to government agencies who are then better equipped to locate those responsible and develop better policies to prevent this from happening. Global Forest Watch allows users to create custom maps, analyse forest trends, subscribe to alerts, or download data for their local area or the entire world. Users can also contribute to GFW by sharing data and stories from the ground via GFW’s crowdsourcing tools, blogs, and discussion groups.

The low-rainfall area of Barmer, Rajasthan, India can remain dry for up to 11 months of the year. If the rains do not come, farmers struggle to find enough water for their food crops, or for the goats that families keep as a source of milk and manure. Many men have also migrated to the city to find work.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is working with women in Barmer, offering interventions to help reduce the drudgery of the labour women must undertake to survive. Women are helped to organise themselves into self help groups, and taught how to harvest rainwater. Using this harvested water, the women are taught how to keep small agri-horticultural gardens, which they can also use to earn an income. Improved seeds of pearl millet and other beans are also provided.

One farmer who has seen great success is Mani Devi. She used the profits from her garden to buy a sewing machine, and is now training women in her family and the rest of the village on how to use it.

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are most often linked to the military. However, potato scientists at the International Potato Centre (CIP) are putting them to another use – to gather data on plant life.

Remote sensing projects are helping scientists to observe how plant life develops and evolves across landscapes over time through characteristics such as biomass, nutrient content, disease and water use. In this sense, scientists can use UAVs to collect images and data on plant numbers and type, the lay of agricultural land, and how crops are being affected by disease and climate change.

Currently CIP uses a number of airplane and helicopter UAVs including an Oktokopter XL. This insect-like remote flying machine was acquired from MikroKopter (Germany) and assembled in CIP and is capable of carrying up to two kilograms of camera and computer equipment and flying at altitudes of over 100 metres for up to 12 minutes depending on the application. The Oktokopter XL is also able to fly at a stationary position, which makes it an excellent tool for aerial photography.

The forests of the Congo basin stretch over two million square kilometres, making it the second largest rainforest area in the world. Forests are essential for local and global life, as they not only provide food and a livelihood for the community, but also help prevent global warming by storing vast amounts of carbon from being released into the atmosphere.

But a rapidly growing population and a diminishing source of fish are leading people in the Democratic Republic of Congo to undertake slash and burn agriculture in the forest basin.

As part of a project run by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a new course at the University of Kisangani is helping students collect better data on Congo’s forest, and perform agricultural activities whilst managing its biodiversity sustainably. There are currently few technically trained academics and scientists in DRC, and even fewer women involved in these subjects. Agents responsible for stewarding the forests are also attending courses, to learn more about the impact of human activity on forests.

In Matopo, Zimbabwe, conservation agriculture (CA) techniques have been proved to help farmers increase their yields and conserve  natural resources .

Trained in CA, farmers use a variety of practices and technologies such as digging planting pits, improving soil fertility with manure, mulch or legumes, and precise planting. By  multiple cropping  and rotating maize with indigenous nutrient-rich crops, the soil quality builds over time. Crop residues trap moisture, control weeds, and maintain cooler soil temperatures.

Despite challenging climatic conditions over a period of 3 years, farmers reported increases in yields of sorghum, millet and maize, from an average of about 0.5 tonnes to between 3-4 tonnes per hectare.

Another survey in Zimbabwe compared CA with conventional farming practices under low, normal and high rainfall situations. Regardless of the level of rainfall, farmers achieved yields between 2 and 6 times of those under conventional practices whilst benefitting from reduced input requirements.

Agriculture for Impact has compiled a comprehensive collection of case studies of “sustainable intensification” in action.

Agricultural Extension

Innovation is not only driven by technological advances, but also through novel ways of organizing farmers and connecting them to the information they need.

Many smallholder farmers around the world still farm the same way their ancestors did thousands of years ago. Traditional farming approaches may continue to work for some, but new practices can help many to substantially improve yields, soil quality and natural capital as well as food and nutrition security.

For example, a smallholder farmer in Africa might still scatter her seeds across her land, rather than planting evenly and in rows. This stops the plant’s roots from taking up the maximum amount of nutrients from the soil. She might use seed saved from generation to generation. While indigenous seeds are important to protect genetic diversity, improved seeds could also help her to adapt to changing climate conditions, fight crop diseases and produce higher yields. She may plant the same crop year after year, rather than rotating her crops or planting a range of crops together to grow more, maintain soil health and diversify her family’s diet. And she might store her harvest in such a way that leaves it susceptible to pests, diseases and rot.

Sometimes, innovations to address these issues are taken to farms via extension training. Farmers themselves can be organized in innovative ways so they are reached more easily and effectively with information. The type and style of the extension itself has evolved much over time. For instance, advances in satellite mapping and information and communications technologies (ICTs) are transforming more traditional agricultural extension work today. Farming is becoming more precise and productive as a result.

Banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) is a devastating virus infecting bananas worldwide. It has had a huge impact on both industrial banana production and on subsistence farmers who depend on the crop to feed their families and provide income. Once established, it is very difficult to eradicate and manage the disease.

According to FAO statistics, Nigeria is the second largest banana producer in West Africa, contributing about 2.7 million tonnes annually. Together with partners, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has launched the ‘Stop Bunchy Top’ campaign in Nigeria to help farmers fight the BBTD infestation.

Training focuses on how they can identify the disease and produce virus-free planting materials. It also creates awareness among extension workers and policymakers about the danger of BBTD and control measures, including the need to plant clean banana suckers to prevent their fields from becoming infested.

iShamba is a mobile based platform that enables smallholder farmers to access real time agricultural and market price information and expert advice via SMS and a call centre. Funded by the TradeMark East Africa’s Challenge Fund and devised by Mediae Company Kenya, iShamba complements Mediae’s existing Shamba Shape Up programme that uses reality TV to give farmers the tools and knowledge to improve profitability and productivity sustainably.

iShamba offers a free subscription service to farmers, giving them market prices for two crops in the two closest markets to them; a weekly weather forecast for their area, including likely rainfall and agronomy tip text messages aligned to the season in the farmer’s specific region in Kenya. This helps them to know exactly when to harvest their crops and which pests and diseases to be on the look out for.

Farmers are also currently benefiting from ‘special offers’ and ‘discounts’ from key East African Community-based agri-product suppliers who are keen to work with iShamba to reach new customers.

How can we measure which technologies will have the most impact on our food supply? Until now, policymakers have struggled to make informed decisions on how to boost productivity in their regions in the most sustainable way.

The recent report  “Food Security in A World of Natural Resource Scarcity: The Role of Agricultural Technologies”  compiled by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks to answer these questions.

The report reviews 11 agricultural technologies ranging from traditional low-tech practices to more advanced technologies, such as no-till agriculture, heat-tolerant varieties and rainwater harvesting. The report finds that different regions will need different technologies. For example, when the impact of drought tolerance is tested globally, it seems to have a low impact, as drought only affects some regions in some seasons and years. Combining multiple technologies (or ‘stacking’ them) can have an even greater impact. Adopting the three types of crop protection (against weeds, diseases and insects) together could reduce the number of food-insecure people by close to 9 per cent. An  online tool  has been developed to allow policymakers and researchers hands-on access to the results.

In 2013, CropLife Latin America formed a partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to train Honduran farmers in good agricultural practices. The aim was to help lift 108,000 rural Hondurans out of extreme poverty by teaching farmers how to protect their crops from pests and disease.

AHSAFE-Honduras (the national member of CropLife Latin America) trained 120 USAID field officers on good agricultural practices and integrated pest management. The field officers in turn have trained more than 30,000 Honduran farmers. These farmers have been able to tackle pests and disease to improve the yield and quality of their crops and they are now earning higher incomes and enjoying a better quality of life. The project helped Emiliano Domínguez, a small-scale Honduran farmer, lift his family out of a life of poverty. He has been able to pay for a new house for his family of five and he has increased the amount of land he farms six times over.

The work in Honduras illustrates how public-private partnerships and good agricultural practices can address hunger and poverty around the world.

Rice production is not keeping up with demand in Africa. Changing diets, and rapid population growth mean that cultivation of this staple crop must dramatically increase its efficiency. To close the rice yield gap in Africa, AfricaRice, under the guidance of Dr. Kazuki Saito, has developed a decision support application (app) for providing African farmers with field-specific management guidelines called  ‘RiceAdvice.’  It is an interactive tool, which generates recommendations based on farmers’ answers to around 20 questions.

RiceAdvice can identify the best choice of fertilizers to be purchased based on nutrient requirement and fertilizer prices, and their amounts and application timing. In RiceAdvice, farmers can also select their own target yield level based on their budget. It has been tested in the Senegal River valley and Kano, Nigeria. Results show that RiceAdvice guidelines give more than one tonne per hectare of yield advantage compared with farmers’ practices.

Saito is also leading a team that has developed the first version of a yield gap map for rice in nine African countries in the  ‘Global Yield Gap Atlas’  website.

Seasonal rainfall forecasts can help farmers adapt to climate change and improve their resilience to climate shocks. The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) is collaborating with the Senegalese National Meteorological Agency (ANACIM) to develop climate information services that are relevant to farmers on a broad scale. Farmers have been involved in every step of the process, helping meteorologists and other specialists package and communicate climate information.

As of August 2015, seasonal forecasts are transmitted nationwide through 82 rural community radio stations and SMS, potentially reaching 7.4 million rural people across Senegal.

Receiving climate information is one thing, but putting it into practice is another. In the beginning, some farmers were reluctant to join the project, as they were very accustomed to basing their actions only on their own know-how.

However, as the project was willing to integrate local knowledge into the climate information disseminated, these farmers became less resistant. Today, farmers are no longer content to wait for climate information, but go in search of it.

Often in Dalung, Ghana, the cold winter winds chase people inside in the evening. But when they have the chance to watch a television screen that teaches better ways to farm, a crowd of 200 villagers gathers in the thoroughfare. They lean in to hear a message that challenges all they know about rice farming and how to grow more than ever.

This is one of several ways IFDC’s Feed the Future Ghana Agriculture Technology Transfer project (ATT) reaches rural farmers through media-based extension. These methods inform farmers quickly and in a cost-effective way. In Dalung, farmers learned about new technology through public video screenings, held on mobile “video vans.” ATT focuses on producing and curating content that appeals to all demographics of farmers. The project helped produce a reality show, “Kuapa,” that promotes good agricultural practices and is aired on Ghana’s most popular TV network.

Elsewhere, the project collaborated with Farm Radio International (FRI) to host programs designed to benefit small-scale farmers. This program implements an Integrated Voice Response System to provide on-demand assistance to farmers who desire to learn more on their own time, and in their own language.

Together these initiatives are estimated to have reached more than 1 million smallholder farmers.

Improved Inputs

The quality, availability and proper use of agricultural inputs is at the heart of agricultural production and sustainability.

The crops that we grow today have been bred over the past ten thousand years to be quite distinct from their wild ancestors. Maize, for instance, has  evolved from  a species called teosinte, which is native to Mesoamerica. Similarly, modern wheat is the result of farmers in the Near East  selecting for  mutations which resulted from the natural crossing of different species of wild grass.

(Photo credits:  John Doebley ;  LaSalle )

Farmers today are faced with a changing climate, which demands seeds that can cope with increased incidents of droughts, heatwaves, floods and elevated salinity levels. This is happening while arable land per capita is ever decreasing, which compels farmers to maximize harvests on existing land.

To do this, the right inputs need to be used in the right amount and at the right time, in the right location. This is called the 4Rs, and is an integrated part of best management practices for improved and more efficient fertilizer application. For example, in more developed countries, global positioning systems (GPS) are helping farmers to track their use of fertilizer and match it very precisely to various soil types on their farm. It can also help them to identify potential pest or disease outbreaks.

Without pesticides and other pest controls, an  estimated 70% of the world’s crop might be lost , rather than 42% today. This would require substantially more cropland being brought into production to make up for this loss.

Rice dies within days of being completely submerged, resulting in total crop loss. In Asia, where most of the world’s rice is grown, about 20 million hectares of rice land is prone to flooding. In India and Bangladesh alone, more than five million hectares of rice field are flooded during most of the planting seasons, which severely damages food supplies and farmer incomes.

In response, scientists have developed a “flood tolerant” rice variety that can withstand being submerged for two weeks. Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) scoured rice’s rich diversity for a gene that gives flood tolerance. After the gene (called SUB1) was found, it was bred conventionally into popularly grown rice varieties in rice-growing countries in Asia.

Several varieties with this “scuba” gene were released to India, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Nepal. Farmer Nakanti Subbarao of Andhra Pradesh, India, was one of the first to adopt Swarna-Sub1 in his community. After seeing that he recovered 70 per cent of this rice after three weeks of flooding, he distributed Swarna-Sub1 seeds to his fellow farmers in Maruteru, which led to coverage of 800 ha in his village, and its nearby areas during the wet season of 2009.

Scuba rice is spreading fast in several countries over the last few years, and currently grown by more than five million farmers in Asia.

In Bangladesh about 60 per cent of the population eats fish at least every other day. Just as a nutritious diet is essential for our own healthy growth and development, the quality of feed given to farmed fish directly influences how fast and large they grow—in turn impacting the yield and farmer profits.

Yet it can be expensive and difficult to access quality feed. WorldFish, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is working on the Aquaculture for Income and Nutrition (AIN) project in Bangladesh, training farmers to make their own fish feed from subsidized feed mills.

Since January 2014, AIN has established 62 feed mills and trained 430 farmers in feed production. Fish are now growing faster, and as growing feed is cheaper than buying it, fish farmers are enjoying a better income.

In a country where more than a third of the population lives below the poverty line, AIN is improving the productivity of household and commercial fish farms to help secure income and nutrition for rural farmers and their families.

In a country often referred to as the “pearl of Africa”, one crop—orange sweet potato (OSP)—has become a real gem for Ugandan farmers and their households. Bred conventionally through a process known as biofortification, OSP packs enough vitamin A to provide a child with a full daily dose. In Uganda, one-third of all children under five lack enough vitamin A, contributing to 29,000 deaths each year.

Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of child mortality in Africa, but a recent study has shown that OSP can help children ward off or reduce the duration of the disease.

As their children enjoy the nutritional and health benefits of OSP, Ugandan farmers are realizing other gains from the crop, too; OSP is high yielding, early maturing, and drought tolerant, giving farmers good harvests and an additional way to make a living.

To date, nearly 300,000 Ugandan farming households are growing and consuming OSP in a project run by HarvestPlus. With demand for the crop continuing to rise, HarvestPlus and the Government of Uganda are working together to scale up nationally.

In 2005, a new strain of rust disease devastated lentil fields in Ethiopia. The local variety of seeds used by the farmers had little resistance to the new disease caused by unusual weather, a growing problem with climate change. Nearly 90 per cent of the farmers lost their produce.

In response, the Ethiopian government with the help of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) stepped up efforts to improve legume varieties, with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the government of Netherlands. ICARDA provided improved germplasm and varieties of lentils, chickpeas and faba beans for testing on farmers fields. The new varieties were first tested by the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR) for adaptability to the local environment, and after crossbreeding with local varieties, those with the highest yield potential were released.

Today, 20 per cent of Ethiopian farmers grow improved lentil varieties from ICARDA’s project, and legumes are now becoming popular. Apart from boosting yields, these crops are making soils healthier and reducing their expenses on fertilizers.

Legumes, being rich in protein and essential minerals such as zinc, also enrich the diets and nutrition of farmers and their families.

Both water and fertilizers play a critical role in agricultural production – in fact, each depends on the other. Fertilizer’s influence on yield depends on the water available to crops, and water’s impact on yield depends on nutrients’ availability to crops.

This presents a significant challenge for countries that have limited, or erratic rainfall, and/or poor access to fertilizers. Traditionally, approaches to boost production in dry regions have focused on individual interventions such as fertilizer use, or water conservation measures. But scientific trials have discovered that approaches that integrate both fertilizer and water use are much more effective.

For example, in the Tadla region of Morocco, laser-assisted land levelling, that reduces water runoff after rainfall, has resulted in both saving 20 per cent more water, and increasing crop yields by 30 per cent. Tiered ridges that capture rainwater have a similar effect: sorghum grain yields at on-farm locations in Burkina Faso were higher with the combination of fertilizer and tied ridges than with either fertilizer or tied ridges alone.

Agronomists at the International Fertilizer Industry Association, together with partners, have produced a scientific book that reviews the latest knowledge on plant nutrition and water management that can optimize water productivity and fertilizer use efficiency and effectiveness.

‘Resilience’  describes  whether a farmer (and her farm) is able to withstand or recover from stresses and shocks. ‘Stresses’ are regular, sometimes continuous, relatively small and predictable disturbances (e.g. lack of access to inputs, a declining natural resource base, climate change and poverty) while ‘shocks’ are irregular, relatively large and unpredictable (e.g. floods, droughts, heatwaves and price volatility).

For farmers to be resilient, they must be able to bounce back from these challenges and achieve previous levels of growth – rather than suffer from reduced yields over time or even worse, a collapse in their production. Climate change already poses a risk, especially to smallholder farmers in the developing world.

Can farmers be supported to help predict these stresses and shocks? Can they be helped to prevent them, buffer themselves or fight against their negative impacts? And can they adapt in ways that make them even better off and more knowledgeable as a result?

According to the government of Ethiopia, 8.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance due to the current drought, coupled with successive failed seasons. El Niño weather conditions and rain failure are resulting in crop harvest loss, livestock death and declining productivity, putting over 400,000 people under emergency support needs. Despite this gloomy background, districts where World Vision has implemented Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) are exhibiting greater resilience. FMNR means helping naturally occurring trees to return to the landscape to help to keep the soil from washing away, to shade crops and to help the land to hold water.

Compared to the adjacent districts, agricultural production of the households that applied FMNR have largely been unaffected due to high moisture retention in their soils. Rivers and hand-dug wells have sufficient water despite reduced precipitation. Income from agricultural production has increased by more than double. Fodder for livestock, wood supply, and a stable microclimate all remain intact.

Furthermore, revenues from carbon credits that farmers have earned for planting more trees cover expenses such as school fees, medication and the purchase of improved seeds, thus safeguarding the wellbeing of families. The observed impact in Ethiopia clearly shows the potential for FMNR to serve as insurance against climate change induced shocks and stresses.

Back in the 1950s, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced one of the most devastating plant disease epidemics in history. The fungus, Panama disease, wiped out large production areas of Gros Michel, the export banana variety. This fungus still remains in the soil, and threatens the livelihood and food security of millions of smallholder farmers.

Bioversity International scientists, in collaboration with partners, have been working with 18 producers in the area of Turrialba, Costa Rica, and Tola, Nicaragua, helping them to become more resilient to Panama disease. Workshops were carried out to teach farmers how to recognise the disease, and stop it spreading. Good agricultural practices were promoted, such as using disease-free planting materials, as well as organic matter application and soil health-oriented fertilization. As a result of the interventions, farmers significantly improved their knowledge about Panama disease and management. They have also shared their experiences with neighbours through group training events, farmer field days and informal exchange.

Farmers now have a toolbox of validated practices for enhanced soil health and management of Panama disease in bananas, as a strategy for protecting their livelihoods.

In Ethiopia, an estimated 12-15 million livestock keepers live in the dry, low rangelands that cover most of the country. These rangelands have huge untapped potential, but drought, unsuitable farming practices and overgrazing have left the land in poor condition, which in turn has impacted the health, condition and value of livestock. Men, who are typically responsible for livestock production, are moving further afield in search of resources, taking them away for longer and increasing risks to their herds of disease and starvation. This affects household incomes, and results in distress sales or consumption of livestock during the hunger period, leaving many households unable to restock herds and lacking savings to invest in alternative incomes.

Farm Africa is working with partners to find more sustainable ways to use available grass and water, and to improve pasture quality. This process can be difficult to measure, as typically the areas in question are very large and remote.

The RaVeN monitoring tool under development by  LTS International  as part of this effort, aims to address this problem. This new tool uses freely available optical and radar satellite data in combination with meteorological data to measure the “greenness” of an area at different points in time, and therefore improve information on what good quality pasture is available for pastoralists to use for grazing their herds.

A new initiative being pioneered by scientists at the International Water Management Institute is channelling surplus surface water from flood‐prone rivers, to a modified village pond. Brick structures in the pond allow the water to flow swiftly down below ground, where they infiltrate the local aquifer. This water can then be pumped back up again during the dry season so that farmers can maintain or intensify their crop production.

Putting this into practice will save on the large funds spent each year on relief and restoration efforts of flood victims and on subsidies for groundwater extraction during the non‐rainy season.

With floods being a common occurrence across the Ganga basin, researchers hope that the scaling up of this intervention would help in effectively protecting lives and assets downstream, boosting agricultural productivity and improving resilience to climate shocks at the river basin scale. This will be especially important to help communities deal with climate change which is likely to bring ever more variability in water supply and rainfall.

Planting fruit trees is not a new practice in Central Viet Nam. Local species of pomelo and orange were once popular in home gardens and known for their special flavour. But as focus shifted towards extracting resources from the nearby forests, these fruit-bearing trees were slowly forgotten. But in the last decade, declining soil and water quantity, reduced river flow, and drought have forced farmers to seek alternatives. Tree planting in home gardens and sloping lands provides one such solution.

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), in collaboration with partners and local people has established 12 agroforestry systems in home gardens and sloping land in three villages. The systems combine trees, annual crops and fodder grass. Pomelo and orange trees are planted amid annual crops, such as beans, peanut, sweet potato, maize and guinea fodder grass.

Mixed systems are not only more resistant to climate-related hazards but recent scientific findings show that local people residing in areas with diversified agricultural or forest products are also healthier owing to more nutritionally diverse diets.

Market Access

Market access allows farmers to buy the inputs they need such as improved seeds and fertilizers, and also to bring their crops, livestock and fish to market to earn a living.

Millions of smallholder famers live in remote areas, and are often isolated from market opportunities. Innovations in connecting these farmers to market are happening in many ways – resulting from social, technical and scientific advances. These advances help farmers find and share up-to-date market pricing information; protect and add value to their harvests; invest in their business; reduce and share risk; and access finance and training.

These innovations can be used and accelerated by actors all across the agricultural value chain to reduce transaction costs and risk while helping to give farmers equal access to the opportunities that exist through trade.

In Cambodia, traditional wood-burning stoves used to smoke freshwater fish typically result in low profits and emissions harmful to the environment. To improve this process and fetch higher prices from buyers, many young women engaged in this livelihood are taking part in the Cambodia HARVEST programme, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), that provides a new, fuel-efficient alternative. Eco-friendly stoves designed by the programme use 30 per cent less wood while smoking fish 15 per cent faster than conventional models. The end product is of a higher quality and ensures greater market access.

All 289 of the programme’s fish processors utilize these new stoves. Kry Sokly, a fish processor in in Kampong Prak village, has increased her family’s annual income by 75 per cent, from $1,000 to $1,750. Not only has the new stove contributed to this success, but Kry also took part in trainings on entrepreneurship and hygiene within her producer/savings group. These organizations, formed by Cambodia HARVEST as another way to connect fish processors to the market, offer an opportunity for women to come together for greater knowledge exchange. Moreover, members contribute money into a pool from which they can borrow when needed at interest rates lower than commercial lenders without stipulations on how they use the money.

In the Republic of Georgia, the agriculture sector is booming. Producers are required to adapt and utilise new technologies to keep up with both local and international market demand.

The company Herbia had run a consolidation centre, where local farmers could bring their produce to market for several years, as well as a three-hectare greenhouse for culinary production. Yet the company was in need of new technologies to increase its sales and market share, so applied to the USAID Restoring Efficiency to Agriculture Production (REAP) matching grant programme, and established a new refrigerated warehouse with two modern packing lines.

This new equipment quickly enabled Herbia to purchase more goods from smallholders and to launch a new product line that provides whole vegetables for ready-made salads. Additionally, REAP assisted Herbia in rebranding including the development of a new logo and packaging.

The new brand launched in April 2015 in more than 80 Tbilisi supermarkets, resulting in an immediate rise in sales of more than 20 per cent. The new equipment, coupled with Herbia’s rebrand, has produced 16 new jobs (including nine for women), generated more than U.S. $222,690 in sales, and enabled the purchase of more than 44MT of new herbs and vegetables from more than 150 new farmers.

Hidden in the conflict-ridden borderlands of Colombia and Ecuador, farmers have been growing exceptional quality coffee beans, but have remained largely disconnected from gourmet coffee markets. Scientists at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) joined forces with Catholic Relief Services last year, to analyse the coffee trade and find out how coffee farmers in the Nariño region could be linked to these more lucrative markets.

It was soon discovered that buyers from big coffee brands were purchasing Nariño’s coffee based on sight and not a taste test. Farmers were receiving a flat rate for any coffee beans considered to score above 85 out of 100, even though many, when tasted, could actually reach the high 90s. A “cupping” session was arranged by the project, to teach farmers about the rigorous tasting process that could set their coffees apart and help them earn much higher financial rewards.

In its first year, the project enabled around 100 farmers to break into the gourmet coffee market. This year they are up to around 550 and that number is likely to rise.

Traditional business model analysis dictates that the agricultural sector across Africa represents substantial risk. So it is no surprise that existing financial institutions have only met 1 per cent of the overall demand for credit in agriculture. Umati Capital focuses on data and technology, to help small to medium sized enterprises and agribusinesses unlock cash for immediate growth but also achieve operational efficiencies for sustained growth.

Umati Capital has been working closely with one of the leading fair-trade and organic certified Kenyan exporters of macadamia and cashew nuts. Before Umati Capital, the exporter painstakingly procured raw nuts from 60,000 smallholder farmers in remote areas across Kenya using manual and paper-based processes, resulting in errors and delayed payments to the farmers.

Umati Capital helped the exporter by providing invoice discounting, and automating the exporter’s supply chain processes, enabling on-time payments for the farmers.

As a result, the exporter increased purchases from farmers by 50 per cent and improved efficiencies in procurement by 90 per cent.

The MilkIT innovation platform has helped women stuggling to make ends meet in the Himalayan hills of Northern India to generate a regular income from milk from their cows.

Beginning in early 2013, the MilkIT project made efforts to unite dairy development actors, researchers and farmers, to improve access to dairy markets and improved dairy feeds, Now, more than 800 households are selling their milk at higher prices due to collective marketing by self-help group-based cooperatives and closer links to the state cooperative, with subsidies provided to those transporting milk from distant villages to markets.

Livestock keepers have been able to replace unproductive stock with higher yielding animals due to credit support provided by development. Simple feed innovations such as feed troughs, forage choppers suited to women’s needs, adoption of improved forage varieties and dual-purpose crops that act as feed and food, has helped to reduce women’s labour while increasing the availability of fodder.

An impact study conducted in November 2014 showed that families participating in this innovation platform earned five times more income from their dairy animals than non-participants in one year.

PHOTO CREDITS: ©2017 CIAT/NEIL PALMER, ©2021 CIAT/JUAN PABLO MARIN GARCÍA, YUSUF AHMAD (ICRAF), ©2016CIAT/GEORGINASMITH, DEVASHREE NAYAK (ICRAF), ©2009CIAT/NEILPALMER, GEORGINA SMITH (CIAT), S. STORR (CIMMYT), GUILHEM ALANDRY, P. SAVADOGO (ICRAF), NEIL PALMER (CIAT), OLIVIER GIRARD (CIFOR), THOMAS LUMPKIN (CIMMYT)

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Guest Essay

The Long-Overlooked Molecule That Will Define a Generation of Science

By Thomas Cech

Dr. Cech is a biochemist and the author of the forthcoming book “The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets,” from which this essay is adapted.

From E=mc² to splitting the atom to the invention of the transistor, the first half of the 20th century was dominated by breakthroughs in physics.

Then, in the early 1950s, biology began to nudge physics out of the scientific spotlight — and when I say “biology,” what I really mean is DNA. The momentous discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953 more or less ushered in a new era in science that culminated in the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, which decoded all of our DNA into a biological blueprint of humankind.

DNA has received an immense amount of attention. And while the double helix was certainly groundbreaking in its time, the current generation of scientific history will be defined by a different (and, until recently, lesser-known) molecule — one that I believe will play an even bigger role in furthering our understanding of human life: RNA.

You may remember learning about RNA (ribonucleic acid) back in your high school biology class as the messenger that carries information stored in DNA to instruct the formation of proteins. Such messenger RNA, mRNA for short, recently entered the mainstream conversation thanks to the role they played in the Covid-19 vaccines. But RNA is much more than a messenger, as critical as that function may be.

Other types of RNA, called “noncoding” RNAs, are a tiny biological powerhouse that can help to treat and cure deadly diseases, unlock the potential of the human genome and solve one of the most enduring mysteries of science: explaining the origins of all life on our planet.

Though it is a linchpin of every living thing on Earth, RNA was misunderstood and underappreciated for decades — often dismissed as nothing more than a biochemical backup singer, slaving away in obscurity in the shadows of the diva, DNA. I know that firsthand: I was slaving away in obscurity on its behalf.

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Better farming through nanotechnology

An argument for applying medical insights to agriculture

Advanced technologies enable the controlled release of medicine to specific cells in the body. Scientists argue these same technologies must be applied to agriculture if growers are to meet increasing global food demands. 

In a new Nature journal review paper , scientists from UC Riverside and Carnegie Mellon University highlight some of the best-known strategies for improving agriculture with nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is an umbrella term for the study and design of microscopically small things. How small? A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Using nanotechnology, drugs can now be delivered where they’re most needed. But these insights have yet to be applied to plant science on a large scale.

“There are studies predicting we will need to increase food production by up to 60% in 2050 relative to 2020 levels. Right now, we are trying to do that through inefficient agrochemical delivery,” said Juan Pablo Giraldo, UCR associate professor and paper co-corresponding author.

“Half of all the fertilizer applied on farms is lost in the environment and pollutes the groundwater. In the case of commonly used pesticides, it’s even worse. Only 5% reach their intended targets. The rest ends up contaminating the environment. There is a lot of room for improvement,” Giraldo said.

Currently, agriculture accounts for up to 28% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This, in addition to a range of other factors from extreme weather events to rampant crop pests and rapidly degrading soil, underlines the need for new agricultural practices and technologies. 

In their review, the researchers highlight specific approaches borrowed from nanomedicine that could be used to deliver pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides to specific biological targets. 

“We are pioneering targeted delivery technologies based on coating nanomaterials with sugars or peptides that recognize specific proteins on plant cells and organelles,” Giraldo said. “This allows us to take the existing molecular machinery of the plant and guide desired chemicals to where the plant needs it, for example the plant vasculature, organelles, or sites of plant pathogen infections.”

Doing this could make plants more resilient to disease and harmful environmental factors like extreme heat or high salt content in soil. This type of delivery would also be a much greener approach, with fewer off-target effects in the environment.

Another strategy discussed in the paper is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a “digital twin.” Medical researchers use computational models or “digital patients” to simulate how medicines interact with and move within the body. Plant researchers can do the same to design nanocarrier molecules that deliver nutrients or other agrochemicals to plant organs where they’re most needed.

“It’s like J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System) from the film Iron Man. Essentially an artificial intelligence guide to help design nanoparticles with controlled delivery properties for agriculture,” Giraldo said. “We can follow up these twin simulations with real-life plant experiments for feedback on the models.”

“Nano-enabled precision delivery of active agents in plants will transform agriculture, but there are critical technical challenges that we must first overcome to realize the full range of its benefits,” said Greg Lowry, Carnegie Mellon engineering professor and co-corresponding author of the review paper. 

“I’m optimistic about the future of plant nanobiotechnology approaches and the beneficial impacts it will have on our ability to sustainably produce food.”

(Cover image: ipopba/iStock/Getty)

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Agriculture

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Adoption of Modern Technology in Agriculture

• 04 Apr 2022
• GS Paper - 3
• Government Policies & Interventions
• E-Technology in the Aid of Farmers

For Prelims : IDEA, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, block chain, remote sensing, GIS technology, use of drones, SMAM, Kisan Call Centres, Kisan Suvidha App, Agri Market App.

For Mains: E-Technology in the Aid of Farmers

Why in News?

Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in a written reply in Rajya Sabha informed about the various initiatives taken by the government for adopting technology in Agriculture.

• In 2021, a consultation paper on the India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) was released, which talks about a digital revolution in the agriculture sector.
• The adoption of modern technology depends on various factors such as socioeconomic conditions, geographical conditions, crop grown, irrigation facilities etc.

What is the importance of Technology in Agriculture?

• Technology in agriculture can be used in different aspects of agriculture such as the application of herbicide, pesticide, fertilizer, and improved seed.
• Presently, farmers are able to grow crops in areas where they were thought could not grow, but this is only possible through agricultural biotechnology.
• Such engineering boosts the resistance of the crops to pests (e.g. Bt Cotton) and droughts . Through technology, farmers are in a position to electrify every process for efficiency and improved production.

How using Technology can be Beneficial in Agriculture?

• Increases agriculture productivity.
• Prevents soil degradation.
• Reduces chemical application in crop production.
• Efficient use of water resources.
• Disseminates modern farm practices to improve the quality, quantity and reduced cost of production.
• Changes the socio-economic status of farmers.

What are the Related Challenges?

• Lack of knowledge
• Inadequate skills
• Lack of improved skills
• Poor infrastructure
• Lack of storage
• Lack of transport
• Lack of Money
• Access to credit
• Lack of access to Bank Loans
• Poor soils,
• Soil fertility
• Unreliable rainfall
• Natural disasters such as floods, frost, hail storm
• Workers have no interest in agriculture, Farm works are not preferred over ipelegeng projects (self-reliance works), Farm jobs are time consuming.

What are the Steps taken by the Government in the Direction?

• AgriStack: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has planned creating ‘AgriStack’ - a collection of technology-based interventions in agriculture.
• Digital Agriculture Mission: This has been initiated for 2021 -2025 by the government for projects based on new technologies like artificial intelligence , block chain , remote sensing and GIS technology , use of drones and robots etc.
• Unified Farmer Service Platform (UFSP): UFSP is a combination of Core Infrastructure, Data, Applications and Tools that enable seamless interoperability of various public and private IT systems in the agriculture ecosystem across the country.
• In 2014-15, the scheme was further extended for all the remaining States and 2 UTs.
• Under this Scheme, subsidies are provided for purchase of various types of agricultural equipment and machinery.
• Other Digital Initiatives: Kisan Call Centres , Kisan Suvidha App , Agri Market App , Soil Health Card (SHC) Portal, etc.

Way Forward

• The use of technology has defined the 21 st century. As the world moves toward quantum computing, AI, big data, and other new technologies, India has a tremendous opportunity to reap the advantage of being an IT giant and revolutionize the farming sector. While the green revolution led to an increase in agricultural production, the IT revolution in Indian farming must be the next big step.
• There need to be immense efforts to improve the capacities of the farmers in India – at least until the educated young farmers replace the existing under-educated small and medium farmers.
• Technology in agriculture has the potential to truly lead India to be “Atmanirbhar Bharat” in all respects, and be less dependent on extraneous factors.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q. Consider the following statements: (2017)

The nation-wide ‘Soil Health Card Scheme’ aims at

• expanding the cultivable area under irrigation.
• enabling the banks to assess the quantum of loans to be granted to farmers on the basis of soil quality.
• checking the overuse of fertilizers in farmlands.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only (b) 3 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

• Soil Health Card (SHC) is a GoI scheme promoted by the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. It is being implemented through the Department of Agriculture of all the State and Union Territory Governments.
• A SHC is meant to give each farmer, soil nutrient status of the holding and advise on the dosage of fertilizers and also the needed soil amendments, that should be applied to maintain soil health in the long run.
• The main aim behind the scheme is to find out the type of a particular soil and then provide ways in which farmers can improve it.

Source: PIB

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Home » Education » Essay on Science and Technology in Agriculture

Essay on Science and Technology in Agriculture

An essay on science and technology in agriculture is an essay that explores and explains the effects science has on society, particularly through the application of scientific principles. Essays on science and technology in agriculture generally deal with the relationship between agriculture and other science-based endeavors.

Science and technology in agriculture are not always discussed and the topics can range from how farmers can use new agricultural technologies to decrease their reliance on petroleum to how scientists have found a way to develop an agricultural system that helps to preserve and protect the environment. The topics may also include environmental impacts and what effect they have on agriculture. Some topics even discuss what impact future technological advancements may have on agriculture.

One thing that most essays on science and technology in agriculture do not address is the impact science has on society. A topic that would be more appropriate for a thesis is, for instance, how science is influencing society through the creation of new technology.

Science and technology in agriculture are important because they affect everyone and the ways they are affecting society is what determines the ultimate impact that science has on the world. Scientific research has helped to provide an accurate understanding of how the world works and what effects science can have on society. This information is used to help guide people in making important decisions, especially regarding the environment.

However, research studies cannot determine the long-term effects of science and technology on society or how it will affect the future. Because there are no experiments or scientific trials, it is impossible to say whether or not science and technology will actually affect society.

We all have our own opinions on this and what has been said may differ from person to person. However, the reality is that we all agree that the changes that science and technology have given us will change the world and the lives of our children. If science is used to improve the world then it is a positive thing and if it is used for evil reasons then it is a negative thing.

However, science and technology have a positive impact because it can reduce the amount of pollution in the world and increase the amount of food available to us. There are many ways that this has improved our lives and in some cases it has made it impossible to live without modern technologies. Scientists can help farmers grow food that is healthier for us and reduce the amount of pesticides that are sprayed on our crops.

Science and technology can be an excellent asset to society and there are many ways to help society move forward. However, no matter how good a person’s intentions, they still need to write an essay on science and technology in agriculture if they want their paper to be accepted by the academic community.

An important factor in determining if your essay on science and technology in agriculture will be accepted or not is by looking at its length. If you have an essay that is too long then you will not have much chance of getting it accepted.

Another important factor in getting accepted is by showing examples of how you have applied the information in your essay. Using examples is important because it helps demonstrate what the topic is all about and how well you are able to explain the concepts. You also need to include references that demonstrate how the information was used and where they are found. By using examples you show that you know what you are talking about and what you are stating is factual information.

Writing an essay on science and technology in agriculture is something that is not easy. It takes patience and work to get it right but it can be done if you stick with it. The last thing that you want to do is submit an essay on this subject and then give up after a few attempts because it was too hard or you did not understand the concepts. Always keep in mind that your essay is a reflection on what you have written and it should be easy to understand.

No matter what type of essay you choose to write you should use your own knowledge and experience to write it. Do not use someone else’s information because it might take away from your ability to write a quality essay. You will not get better if you take the information and reword it. Do not put in information that you cannot remember or do without any reference at all.

Essay About How Technology Has Changed Our Lives

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Technology in Indian agriculture -a review

• Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 20(2):1070-1077
• 20(2):1070-1077
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• Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering

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Essay on Science and Technology for Students and Children

500+ words essay on science and technology.

Essay on Science and Technology: Science and technology are important parts of our day to day life. We get up in the morning from the ringing of our alarm clocks and go to bed at night after switching our lights off. All these luxuries that we are able to afford are a resultant of science and technology . Most importantly, how we can do all this in a short time are because of the advancement of science and technology only. It is hard to imagine our life now without science and technology. Indeed our existence itself depends on it now. Every day new technologies are coming up which are making human life easier and more comfortable. Thus, we live in an era of science and technology.

Essentially, Science and Technology have introduced us to the establishment of modern civilization . This development contributes greatly to almost every aspect of our daily life. Hence, people get the chance to enjoy these results, which make our lives more relaxed and pleasurable.

Benefits of Science and Technology

If we think about it, there are numerous benefits of science and technology. They range from the little things to the big ones. For instance, the morning paper which we read that delivers us reliable information is a result of scientific progress. In addition, the electrical devices without which life is hard to imagine like a refrigerator, AC, microwave and more are a result of technological advancement.

Furthermore, if we look at the transport scenario, we notice how science and technology play a major role here as well. We can quickly reach the other part of the earth within hours, all thanks to advancing technology.

In addition, science and technology have enabled man to look further than our planet. The discovery of new planets and the establishment of satellites in space is because of the very same science and technology. Similarly, science and technology have also made an impact on the medical and agricultural fields. The various cures being discovered for diseases have saved millions of lives through science. Moreover, technology has enhanced the production of different crops benefitting the farmers largely.

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India and Science and Technology

Ever since British rule, India has been in talks all over the world. After gaining independence, it is science and technology which helped India advance through times. Now, it has become an essential source of creative and foundational scientific developments all over the world. In other words, all the incredible scientific and technological advancements of our country have enhanced the Indian economy.

Looking at the most recent achievement, India successfully launched Chandrayaan 2. This lunar exploration of India has earned critical acclaim from all over the world. Once again, this achievement was made possible due to science and technology.

In conclusion, we must admit that science and technology have led human civilization to achieve perfection in living. However, we must utilize everything in wise perspectives and to limited extents. Misuse of science and technology can produce harmful consequences. Therefore, we must monitor the use and be wise in our actions.

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