Below are technologies related to agricultural and natural manufacturing under four key areas of accelerating change, many of which are already in use today: sensors, food, automation and engineering.
Sensors
Air & soil sensors: Enable a real-time understanding of current farm, forest or body of water conditions.
Equipment telematics: Allow mechanical devices, such as tractors, to warn mechanics that a failure is likely to occur soon.
Livestock biometrics: Collars with GPS, radio frequency identification systems (RFIDs) and biometrics identify and relay vital information about livestock in real time. Also, farmers and ranchers are using virtual fencing to control the movement of livestock, similar to invisible fences for pets.
Crop sensors: Instead of prescribing field fertilization before application, high-resolution crop sensors inform application equipment of correct amounts needed. Drones or optical sensors, such as infrared light, identify crop health across the field.
Food
Genetically designed food: The creation of entirely new strains of food animals and plants to better address biological and physiological needs. A departure from genetically modified food, genetically designed food is engineered from the ground up.
In vitro meat: Also known as cultured meat, in vitro meat is muscle tissue grown in a lab and therefore never part of a live animal. These products have already entered the market, including the plant-based hamburgers sold by Burger King.
Automation
Agricultural robots: Also known as “agbots,” these are used to automate agricultural processes, including harvesting, fruit picking, ploughing, soil maintenance, weeding, planting and irrigation, among others.
Precision agriculture: Farming management based on observing and responding to intra-field variations. With satellite imagery and advanced sensors, farmers can optimize returns on crop resources, such as irrigation and fertilizer, while preserving natural resources at ever-larger scales. Further understanding of crop variability, geo-located weather data and precise sensors should allow improved automated decision-making and complementary planting techniques.
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