AUGUST 2024 17 TECHNOLOGIES TO WATCH develops innovative plant varieties to improve crop resilience and productivity. Okanagan Specialty Fruits developed the non-browning Arctic apple variety and works to enhance fruit quality and reduce food waste. There are also Smart Earth Seeds of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who, not surprisingly given their location, seek to develop specialty crops with a breeding program that includes oilseeds and pulses to improve them. Connectivity Technology The expansion of broadband connectivity technologies, such as 5G, is crucial for enabling the real-time data transmission required by IoT devices, drones, and other technologies in agriculture. Improved connectivity enhances the ability to monitor and manage remote assets, leading to increased efficiency and reduced operational costs. Since 2021, the provincial governments have been working alongside the federal government in an effort to bring high-speed internet access to all rural areas. For example, the Ontario government is investing nearly $4 billion to bring high-speed internet access to every corner of the province by the end of 2025—the largest single investment in highspeed internet in Canadian history. Even still, we aren’t there yet. Projections show that by 2026, we will have 98.6 percent of Canadians with access to high-speed broadband services. It’s close… Why is this important? Well, besides everyone (98.6 percent) now having a chance to play Candy Crush on their phones, farmers will—if they so desire—be able to move into the more hi-tech world of precision ag technologies that will allow them to operate a machine optimally. To work their field in the most exacting ways possible, to look after and harvest their crops in the fastest and most economical way possible, and to have a chance to have bigger yields and higher profits. There’s no sense in talking about PAg technologies if the farm lacks highspeed connectivity. Synthetic Data and AI in R&D Synthetic data generation, combined with AI, is either revolutionizing agricultural research and development or is about to. But what is it? Imagine, if you will, the book or movie Jurassic Park. Lacking a complete chain of dinosaur DNA (originally obtained from an amber-encased mosquito that had sucked the blood of a dino), the scientists used DNA from a frog to fill in the blanks. Well, in the case of synthetic data, AI analyzes scenarios and performs predictive modelling to create synthetic data to fill in the blanks to provide more comprehensive analysis and prediction models. If we ask the artificial intelligence to predict how a two-week drought will affect crops later that year, that’s one thing. Asking it to predict how that single drought will affect soil quality moving forward—next year, five years, or 10 years down the line—will take synthetic data to produce a predictive answer. It can only be as correct as its synthetic data allows it, not considering the possibility of another COVID-like outbreak and its effect on accessibility to fertilizer, for example. This technology, if the writer has wrapped his head around things correctly, will allow the artificial intelligence to look at positives—such as how this new seed will perform this year, next year, and 20 years from now. It allows for the acceleration of innovation by enabling the simulation of countless scenarios without the need for extensive field trials. Soil and Crop Health Monitoring Platforms Not a new technology, but certainly one that continues to advance its positive capabilities. In a recent issue of the CAAR Communicator, we discussed a new platform from Alveo Technologies, Inc., which brings the accuracy and quickness of a lab test directly into the hands of an agronomist in the field to provide a timely answer to a farmer. For example, loop-mediate isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a DNA amplification technology that holds a sample at a steady temperature instead of cycling. Alveo is in the process of using that technology to provide an in-field result in about 30 minutes, which could help farmers stay ahead of a potentially dangerous field contagion spread. Alveo and other companies are in the process of developing intricate platforms using IoT sensors, AI, and satellite imagery to monitor soil health and crop status in real time. This will allow farmers to know when they need to water crops, for example, provide extra nutrient management, or add a pesticide to ensure a chance at a larger, healthier crop yield. Conclusion Unless you are a company that focuses on a singular product and technology, Canadian agricultural retailers and farmers should be aware of the aforementioned technologies. They certainly do not need to embrace all of them to remain competitive and resilient, but they do need to embrace at least one of them to maintain a semblance of modernity. As noted, there are also many technologies where Canadian ingenuity is not yet involved, to which we say it’s at least looking into and doing your due diligence. If companies from other countries see the possibility, should we not as well? Canada needs to initiate, increase, and maintain (pick one) its collaboration between industry, research institutions, and policymakers to increase the likelihood of technology adoption. It is only by staying informed and working to overcome new technology’s challenges that we can work towards building a more stable and innovative world for those involved in Canadian agriculture.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc0MDI3