AgritechE celebrates their 10 year milestone with an initiative called, ‘Back to the Future’. It’s time to reflect on what has changed across the digital transformation in agriculture since their inception.
AgritechE is a UK based network for farmers, entrepreneurs and scientists looking to improve the future of agriculture through global innovation. As part of their 10 year anniversary, the team looks back on what has changed in the past decade and considers what advancements farms will see next.
Farmable, a global farm management app, has been a member of the AgritechE community and took the opportunity to engage in the conversation around past and future technologies on the farm.
Director of AgritechE, Belinda Clarke, describes their initiative:
Back to the Future with Farmable
AgritechE: What do you think is the game-changing tech development we’ve seen in the last 10 years?
Farmable:
Our team works with a large number of fruit growers, who deal with high volumes of people in their operations, particularly around harvest time. It has been very inspiring to see the advancements in robotics that could automate some of the more human-intensive work happening on farms around the world.
Examples of robotics teams that inspire us are:
- GUSS: Autonomous Sprayers
- Saga Robotics: Autonomous treatment for powdery mildew
- Tevel: Autonomous harvesting robots.
Challenges still remain. The cost of even piloting these technologies is high and really only accessible to the largest operators out there. Network connectivity and having the necessary technology skills on a farming team are two other factors that can put these types of advancements out of reach for many farms.
So while these advancements are important for the long term viability of the industry, there are barriers to adoptions that need to be addressed first.
AgritechE: What’s the biggest challenge to widespread adoption?
Network connectivity.
This is a real frustration for a huge number of farms globally. Our team works with farms primarily across the UK, Germany, Spain, South Africa and Australia. The number of farms who still struggle with network access out in the fields is high. And if you want to record data digitally in the field, in real time, we need rural connectivity.
Fortunately, teams like Starlink are working hard to solve this on a global scale but admittedly it’s frustrating to see that this is still such a significant barrier in 2024.
AgritechE: What do you think is the most exciting thing we’ll see in 10 years’ time?
It will be very exciting to see technology empower small and medium sized farms to operate profitable, sustainable businesses.
Family farms are at risk of being left behind in a generation that uses pen and paper to operate a business. At Farmable we aspire for a future where:
- All farms have network connectivity
- Digital tools are accessible for all (easy to use and low-cost)
These are fundamental rights to any business that wants to survive in the long run so we feel obligated to ensure the farms that feed us also have these basic services.
If we can do that, small and medium farms have a chance at competing with the big farms. Technology can help them more easily comply with regulations, opening doors to new markets and ensuring they receive value for their products. This becomes a reality when product quality can be verified and traced using technology that is accessible to all. It will allow all farms, small and large, to receive fair payment for the products they grow.
Technology will hopefully be the great equaliser in the future of farming.
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Farmable is a user-friendly farm management app suited to the needs of mid-sized growers. The tool organizes farm data to improve decision making and save farm managers time with their compliance requirements for GlobalG.A.P and Red Tractor.
The Farmable App can be downloaded on iOS or Android devices and users are able to start documenting field notes, jobs and harvest records for free. Today, Farmable has been downloaded by more than 40,000 farms globally and has been used to digitally document more than 100,000 farming jobs.
