photo by freddie oomkens, nordrhein-westfalen, germany
As global population rises to over 10 billion in the coming decades, current agricultural practices will not cover our growing need for food.
AgriTech and precision farming will enable us to feed the future, because they revolutionise food production in sustainable ways.
In practical terms, precision farming is a range of high-tech software and hardware which is now affordable for the average farmer. It effectively upgrades farming equipment, including ordinary tractors, to give satellite guidance, using a receiver and an app, with accuracy to the nearest couple of centimetres.
That means farmers require less fuel, fertiliser, seed and effort to get higher yields.
The extra efficiency makes farms more sustainable and profitable.
Given the huge role played by government legislation and subsidies in farming today, the switch to sustainable farming can only be accelerated with national and international commitment, lawmaking and subsidies.
Role of communications
Awareness of all this is globally high, and support for sustainability is strong in principle, although this is easily undermined when the perceived cost in the present outweighs future benefits. As such, the economic argument is central to the case for farming sustainability, to help:
- Persuade governments and international bodies to commit to globally sustainable farming, specifically, to promote and subsidise precision farming solutions;
- Persuade farmers to switch to more sustainable modes of production, by showing farmers that practical precision farming is affordably available to them, and that an investment in precision farming pays back within a season or two;
- Persuade global citizens that the switch to sustainable farming is both necessary and desirable.
In my role as Global Head of Marketing, Communications and Content at FieldBee/eFarmer, I have been progressing this case in more detailed and practical ways, working with others to grow a more sustainable future together.
Agri-tech farming can transform almost any old tractor into a high-tech, satellite-guided precision machine.