Since the Green Revolution of the 1960s, technological change has played a key role in increasing agricultural productivity and resilience. Faced by an increasingly complex climate landscape, innovations such as vertical farming and precision farming are attracting interest. The world is now in expectation of what is likened to a fourth agricultural revolution.
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies /Floating gardens of Bangladesh
Getty Images /© ivanmateevAround a quarter of Bangladesh is flooded for several months of the year. This causes soil salinity and disruption to agriculture. Floating gardens (locally known as dhap or baira) have been around for hundreds of years in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Myanmar. These floating gardens secure a variety of nutrient- and protein-rich foods such as okra, gourds, spinach and eggplant in areas that cannot otherwise be cultivated. They also ensure these foods survival during periods of increased and erratic rainfall when rivers fill with water. Unlike raised field agriculture on land, floating gardens are raft-like, soilless cultivations. They are made by layering native plants such as water hyacinths about three feet deep. Farmers then plant vegetables inside these floating gardens. As the hyacinths and other host plants decompose, nutrients are released. These feed the crops and vegetables planted within the raft, which in principle resembles a deep-water hydroponic system. Because floating gardens adapt to water movement, they are of particular interest for flood-prone areas with fluctuating river levels. Despite volatilities in yield due to climate impacts, floating gardens provide stability in terms of food production and income, sometimes earning families several times more than traditional rice cultivation. The FAO has declared them a globally important agricultural heritage system. Indigenous floating gardens are undergoing a revival as an effective climate adaptation technology. In 2013, the Government of Bangladesh allocated USD 1.6 million to promote floating farms for climate change adaptation in nearly 50 locations across the country.[1]
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies /Digital farming technologies in Africa
Getty Images /© PeopleImagesFarming technologies that rely on robotics, indoor farming systems and biotechnology are yet to reach mass scale in Africa. However, digital technologies are beginning to transform parts of the agriculture sector in many of the continent’s countries. One key advance is digital agricultural marketplaces connecting farmers with sellers. Examples include Uganda’s AgroMarketDay app which allows farmers to upload pictures of their produce and auction it to the highest bidder, or Kenya’s Twiga Foods open-bidding app (Twiga Agent) and its services which now serve 30,000 customers each month[1]. Among other examples are farming apps that improve access to crop advice and financial offerings to help increase farm productivity. Even blockchain technologies are being used to secure farmers’ titles to land or protect against poor quality food products. Only entering the market in early 2000, these types of digital technologies in East Africa attracted investments of over USD 425 million in 2015–2017[2].
Proven technologies
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Proven technologiesPrecision planting
Precision Planting
Getty Images /© Blue Planet StudioIncreased access to agricultural data, such as visualizations of field conditions, can support farmers in optimizing planting and harvesting to maximize yield performance. The company Precision Planting offers a set of digital tools that use historical and real-time data to enable decision-making related to sowing and managing crops. One product is the 20I20 agricultural imaging system. This is software that monitors, controls and diagnoses past and present field conditions (e.g., temperature and humidity of the furrows) to optimize farming equipment performance. These digital tools can be connected to air seeders and seed drills to provide data for optimal seed distribution and downforce.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: North America, Argentina
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Proven technologiesPrecision agriculture through IoT technology and sensors
Libelium
Getty Images /© Ekkasit919Libelium provides a wireless sensor network platform whose many uses includes precision agriculture. The technology uses internet of things (IoT) networks in a scalable way to reduce maintenance costs. Smart Agriculture models allow monitoring of multiple environmental parameters involving a wide range of applications. They have sensors for air and soil temperature and humidity, solar visible radiation, wind speed and direction, rainfall, atmospheric pressure and so on. Main applications for the Waspmote Plug & Sense! model are precision agriculture, irrigation systems, greenhouses, weather stations and more.
- Contracting type: Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Spain
- Availability: Worldwide
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Proven technologiesRobotic farming technologies for precision agriculture
SwarmFarm Robotics
Getty Images /© KinwunAutonomous robotic farming technologies developed by SwarmFarm Robotics enable precision application of nutrient and crop-protection inputs. The product is a robot for crop row farming. By optimizing herbicide and fertilizer application farmers can respond better to precise needs and forecasted environmental and weather conditions while reducing the amount of agrochemicals used. The company claims to have sprayed, weeded and mowed more than 200,000 acres of farmland within the past two years. This startup also offers the SwarmConnect ecosystem, a software that enables developers, farmers and partner organizations to program its robots to suit their needs.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Australia
- Availability: Australia
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Proven technologiesContainer-based hydroponic farms
Grow Pod Solutions
Getty Images /© zorazhuangGrow Pod Solutions provides a hydroponic system for growing high-quality specialty crops, specifically leaf crops and varieties of herbs. Compared to field growing, yields can be better regulated and monitored to provide all-year-round outputs while using water more efficiently. Crops are grown in containers in which air and water is filtered. Due to the sealed environment, risk of contamination is reduced. LED lights are designed to emit only wavelengths needed for photosynthesis. The container system is modular and stackable to enable a vertical growing environment for space efficiency.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: Medium
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: United States
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Proven technologiesSoilless agriculture with alternative medium
Soilless Farm Lab
Photo: © Soilless Farm LabSoilless agriculture is gaining popularity among indoor farmers, urban farmers and those facing harsh weather conditions and limited land space. Instead of using soil, a plant’s roots are fed by either a nutrient solution or a substrate such as perlite, peat, moss, coconut fiber or rockwool. Fresh water is provided at a balanced pH level, while oxygen is supplied through air mists, pumps or by creating a space between the plant base and a water reservoir. Soilless Farm Labs is a Nigerian agritech and food-tech startup applying technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to soilless farming systems. Systems implemented could either be substrate or non-substrate based depending on crop and investment capacity. The company has supported the establishment of 400 hectares of farming. It offers training and capacity building covering a variety of hydroponic techniques including nutrient film techniques, ebb and flow methods and deep-water culture.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: Medium
- Country of origin: Nigeria
- Availability: Nigeria
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Proven technologiesVertical aquaponic farms
Dachnik Aquaponics
Photo: © Dachnik AquaponicsDachnik Aquaponics provide a turn-key aquaponic system in a tower design. This makes efficient use of space, energy and water for growing plants. The system includes a tank configured to hold fish and nutrient-rich water. The smallest units can grow over 190 plants in 1 square meter of space. The largest (3-trough) commercial unit can grow over 313 plants per square meter of space and can scale to any size. The modular design allows individual units to be put on pause for cleaning and maintenance.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: Medium
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: United States
Frontier technologies
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Frontier technologiesAgrivoltaics for crop resilience
Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
Getty Images /© MiropaAgrivoltaics combines agriculture and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. Growing crops under a PV array has been found to significantly impact three factors affecting plant growth and reproduction – air temperature, direct sunlight and atmospheric demand for water. Shade provided by the PV panels results in a cooler daytime and warmer nighttime temperature than a traditional open-sky planting system.[1] Researchers at Arizona State University have developed various PV unit versions that include an optical element that redirects light toward the PV cell. This solution diffuses light of certain wavelengths and allows it to pass through the PV unit to facilitate the crops underneath the PV unit to grow. The positioning of solar PVs above crops makes more efficient use of land.
- Contracting type: N/A
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: N/A
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Frontier technologiesSelf-driving tractors
Northstar Robotics Inc
Getty Images /© Igor BorisenkoThis technology makes more efficient use of farm inputs and labor to improve crop productivity. Northstar Robotics offers autonomous technologies for a wide range of applications. Through its open hardware and software platform, Northstar Robotics turns existing farm equipment into customized, autonomous field solutions through retrofit kits. These kits can be retrofitted to most equipment since many tractor models use the same steering, acceleration and control systems. An intelligent control system is connected to a cloud robotics platform. This allows farmers to dictate assignments such as feeding, harvesting, seeding and weeding from a mobile phone app. GPS technology is used to ensure accuracy.
- Contracting type: For sale
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: Canada
- Availability: Canada
Horizon technologies
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Horizon technologiesAgricultural drone for automated fertilizer and pesticide application
Kray Technologies
Getty Images /© baranozdemirKray Technologies provides an unmanned drone crop sprayer. This flies over fields to deliver on-demand fertilizer and pesticides. Droplets are charged electrostatically to attach better to crop surfaces, spreading products more evenly as they are released from a low-altitude 1 meter above the crop. The drone can spray approximately 5 km² of crop a day. It is programed to visualize the field in 3D. This allows it to estimate the required amount of product. The drone uses cameras and LiDAR technology to reconstruct terrain 100 meters ahead with 10 cm precision so as to detect potential obstacles.
- Contracting type: For sale/Service
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: United States
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3. Agriculture and forestry / Farming technologies / Horizon technologiesAutomated harvesting
AppHarvest
Getty Images /©Amina ShakeelaFresh and delicate produce is often handpicked to avoid bruising. Climate change is likely to impact the yields and profitability of farms. Therefore increased automation and labor productivity is becoming an area of interest for high-segment farming markets. Root AI, recently acquired by company AppHarvest, has developed an automated robot named Virgo for picking tomatoes and potentially other types of foods. In addition, the robot is able to evaluate crop health and predict yields. Robots are currently being developed for the network of indoor farms managed by AppHarvest. Future developments in robotic harvesting may increase the accessibility of such technologies.
- Contracting type: N/A
- Technology level: High
- Country of origin: United States
- Availability: N/A
REDD stands for “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation”. The “+” represents forest conservation and management.
Hydroponics is using water as a medium instead of soil, whereas aeroponics is growing plants suspended in misted air. Aquaponics combines hydroponics and fish farming in an integrated nutrient recycling system.
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