Population and wealth growth will drive a 70% increase in demand for calories and a 100% increase in crop demand by 2050, according to a 2015 study by McKinsey Global Institute.
Expanding the farming footprint and cultivating more land is not the answer to meet that demand.
Instead, it will come down to increasingly efficient use of existing resources, including land and labour.
One of the key mechanisms capable of delivering the efficiencies is the application of smart digital tools and new agritech innovations.
Traditionally, agricultural change has been biologically driven, with agritech advances focusing on areas such as animal health, breeding and pasture production.
Now, the focus is shifting to automation and smart, connected, digital solutions using data to improve farm management and deliver more efficient, more productive use of resources.
Many New Zealand companies are already rising to the challenges presented by the rapidly evolving agritech landscape.
Digital sensors that collect and apply data from different sources around the farm offer massive opportunities for efficiency.
One example, from Kiwi company Levno, is a sensor on rural fuel tanks that monitors capacity and automatically notifies fuel suppliers when a delivery is needed – a time-saver for the customer and vastly more cost-efficient in terms of route planning.
Often referred to as the Internet of Things, these sorts of technology-enabled, data-driven solutions not only reduce hands-on administration, helping to ease labour demands, they can also improve the quality of critical decisions on the farm.
NZ company Regen’s services use real-time data from sensors on the farm, analyse it and deliver text recommendations about water, effluent and nitrogen management.
With access to timely, accurate scientific analysis, farmers and growers can make better decisions to improve their productivity and economic outcomes while also meeting their sustainability targets and regulatory reporting requirements.
Satellite technology, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles are another area that could deliver a big agritech payoff.
Kiwi company Aeronavics is using hi-tech drones to provide quality data about stock, crops and nutrient management. Like the sensor data, it connects to other systems on the farm to support smart, timely decisions.
The smart solutions coming out of our local agritech scene are no surprise.
NZ’s agritech sector has always had a natural advantage grounded in our deep, fundamental understanding of agriculture and the fact many of our leading innovators come from a farming background with first-hand experience of the challenges.
But there is a good reason to be especially excited about the wave of agritech solutions being developed in NZ.
In the past, one of the limitations for our agritech sector was that our businesses tended to take a very NZ-centric approach to the products and solutions we developed. Now, there is an ambition to solve global problems and the global potential is massive.
MORE:
Callaghan Innovation is running a series of free agritech seminars and innovation tours at Fieldays
