Smart Agriculture is a smart choice for all, not just for farmers

Canada along with the rest of the world is facing the challenge of feeding a growing population while sparing more natural resources. On a global basis, the challenge is huge as we must contemplate how to feed an additional two billion people by 2050 while arable area will likely grow only by 5% according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Canada has a great role to play in this “Feed the world” challenge!

The Canadian Agriculture sector, in addition to being a vibrant sector feeding local communities, plays an important role on a global basis. Canada is the 5th largest agricultural exporter in the world. In addition to maple syrup, a true Canadian brand, Canada is also the world's largest exporter of flaxseed, pulses, oats and durum wheat and canola. Consider that 90% of the production of canola, a great Canadian success story, is exported as canola seeds, canola oil or as an ingredient for livestock feeds. But the production of this cash crop like that of many other agricultural products is not without its challenges. Farmers around the country are facing more and more the pressure to produce more with less, reducing the use of pesticides, antibiotics and other tools currently available. But they are not without options as the digitalization of agriculture, also referred to as smart agriculture, provides some valuable relief. ensure the wellbeing of both animals, plants and the land. But in many cases, the data collection still relies on observations and manual recording, making the computation and analysis of the data more cumbersome. Data collected represent a wealth of information currently underutilized by farmers. Changes are needed as the average farm will generate 4.1 million data points by 2050 through the use of wireless sensors and other internet of things (IoT) devices. Smart Agriculture is defined for its use of Big Data to develop models that drive the best decisions in terms of the amount of water, seeds or fertilizers to be applied to a minute section of a field or of the amount of feed to provide a dairy cow.

Artificial vision, one of the great applications derived from artificial intelligence (AI), offers tremendous opportunities throughout the food value chain. In the fields, AI combined with drone and other automated vehicle technologies has been applied for the detection and identification of weeds, insects and other pests to allow farmers to time perfectly their intervention to control these problems, saving some valuable time, efforts and resources. Through its analytical power to detect trends, AI assists farmers to identify the ideal time to provide treatments to fields while reducing the impact on bees who play such a great role as pollinators. Smarter agriculture is all about optimizing the use of resources to ensure the best results with the least impact on the planet. Off the farms, Artificial vision is used now to grade at record speed agricultural products like apples, meat or eggs, ensuring that only top-quality products reach the shelves at retail.

Through the use of remote sensors, GPS and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, AI is also used to identify the specific needs to improve the fertility of soils, predict production yield and optimal time for harvest. A local partnership with Huawei Canada in Southern Ontario recently helped the Henry of Pelham Family Estate Winery to improve its yield and reduce its costs by providing advance warning about the health of its plants and prevent diseases.

“Reliable high-speed Internet and the smart solutions that strong digital infrastructure enables will help Canada’s economy recover and thrive through the current crisis and COVID-19. Smart agriculture will be a big part of that,” says Chris Pereira, Senior Director of Public Affairs at Huawei Canada. AI is also assisting researchers to fast-track the selection of the most productive and drought-resistant plants to help us adapt to climate change. AI is used to train machines to calculate at record speed the number of flowers on a picture and facilitates the optimum selection of plants for breeding purposes. Another application developed by Huawei Technologies helps farmers monitor closely the reproductive cycle of cows and improve the conception rate and boosts productivity by about 7 per cent. 1