Integrating Technology and Agriculture with Advanced Machinery

Abstract

Abstract: Agricultural technologies are rapidly evolving towards a new paradigm – Integrating Technology. Within this paradigm, digitalization, automation and artificial intelligence play a major role in crop production, including weeding and pest control. This evolution presents both challenges and opportunities, such as leapfrogging from manual and animal-driven technologies to automated and mechanized equipment in developing countries and closing the digital divide. Traditional agricultural mechanization, characterized by the use of tractors and engine power, will be matched and even surpassed by automated equipment and robotics and the precision they can provide in farm operations. Conservation agriculture (CA) is an approach that involves crop diversification, permanent soil cover and minimal soil disturbance (e.g. limited tillage). CA increases soil structure and soil organic matter, promotes rich microbial diversity, retains water and nutrients, and better manages pests and diseases, making agricultural soils more productive and resilient to changes in climate. However, it requires specialized equipment – for example, for direct drilling of crop seed into the soil at the right depth and sowing density. Agricultural robotics can support these environmentally sustainable practices, by allowing spot weeding and precision management of nutrients, pests, diseases and weeds through mechanical removal or spot application of chemicals. Agricultural robots will also be able to substitute arduous labour, especially when there is limited availability, thus increasing social sustainability. The development of Integrating Technology will create new opportunities that can attract youth and entrepreneurs into the sector, tackling some of the causes for rural–urban migration and contributing to the economic component of sustainability.