Walid Battal
Smart agriculture is now developing to better adapt to the changing demand for the sector, but also to climate change.
The United States of America, which has been facing virulent weather phenomena (El Niño, floods, earthquakes) in recent years, is thinking of effective solutions to strengthen the resilience of its agriculture to climatic hazards. This helps to limit losses, especially among small farmers. In this sense, the country is investing $2 billion in the sector. This is intended to promote the emergence of smart agriculture.
But what is smart farming?
Smart farming represents a set of agricultural techniques based mainly on the use of NICTs (New Information and Communication Technologies). The adoption of such technologies and their implementation in the service of agriculture makes it possible to optimize soil monitoring, while increasing sustainability, yield and agricultural productivity. Far from replacing humans, these new technologies help farmers save time in boring tasks, obtain a more qualitative rendering or reach hard-to-reach areas (thanks to the use of drones).
This investment thus benefits smart farming in order to better develop it through the use of artificial intelligence, automation and the Internet of Things. Indeed, some connected objects make it possible to better recognize and sort fruit and vegetables or different foodstuffs. In addition, connected solutions make it possible to monitor the environment with real-time data. This makes it easier for farmers to provide the necessary care for the health of the plantations or the spraying of fertilizers or fertilizers.
This American effort in favor of smart agriculture also has other missions, including: strengthening the country’s food security, contributing to the resilience of agriculture to the climate, boosting the competitiveness of the sector.