rethink sustainability
AI, big data: can technology make agriculture greener?
Article published on Le déCLIC® responsable in partnership with Le Figaro on 28 September 2023
Increasing crop yields while limiting their environmental impact is the challenge facing agriculture. The sector is currently among those contributing most to its own degradation, but technological solutions can help. This overview highlights some of the developments being put in place in France, which is a European leader in the field.
Agriculture may be undergoing a third revolution. Following the discovery of crop rotation in the 17th century and the advent of mechanisation and chemistry in the 20th century, the digital revolution heralds the dawn of a new transformation. Artificial intelligence, big data, connected services... this is the birth of the age of precision agriculture, or smart farming. “We are living through a period of disruption,” confirms Véronique Bellon-Maurel, new technologies specialist at INRAE, France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, and co-author of a white paper on responsible digital agriculture. “Since the 2010s, digital technology has become increasingly important on farms. Sensors have improved observation capacity tenfold, providing a better understanding of agro-ecosystems,” adds Bellon-Maurel, who in 2016 established the Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab, #DigitAg, which brings together 16 public and private partners, 30 research units and more than 570 experts.
Precision agriculture doesn’t just seek to improve yields, its supporters say. “It is a source of productivity gains, but digital technology and its tools can also reduce the impact of agricultural systems on the environment,” Bellon-Maurel says. Using robots or automated systems to process data makes it possible to produce highly targeted recommendations to ensure the right amounts of water, fertiliser or phytosanitary product are applied in the right place and at the right time. “In addition to establishing ‘precision’ agriculture, digital tools also aid in the early detection of crop failure or disease, limiting the need for treatment,” adds Bellon-Maurel.
Reducing insecticide use by 90%
AgriTech brings together digital technology and agriculture. It is a booming sector in France, where a large number of young start-ups are emerging with plans to tackle environmental challenges. One example is Bordeaux-based company Chouette. It has developed innovative software that scans vine leaves to detect the first signs of mildew – a disease caused by a fungal pathogen. It does this by using the same principles used in facial recognition technology: a drone carrying a camera maps and pinpoints the exact location of infected plants. The system allows early intervention and prevents the spread of the disease while also ensuring localised treatment, reducing the use of phytopharmaceuticals.
“The use of data is key as it allows a significant reduction of inputs,” says Félix Bonduelle, CEO of Javelot, a start-up he co-founded in 2018. The company has developed a global platform that centralises grain storage data in order to optimise the use of phytosanitary products and energy consumption. “Insects represent one of the major risks to grain storage,” he explains. “Our thermometric sensors, ventilators and insect traps are connected to our digital platform, which centralises the data. Ventilation can be monitored remotely and optimised to control temperatures and prevent the spread of pests.”
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The entrepreneur is clear: the cooperatives and traders who have adopted this solution have reduced insecticide use in their grain stores by 90% and cut their energy consumption by 30%.
Robots reducing herbicide use
A similar thing is happening at Sencrop, a business that has been designing and manufacturing connected weather stations for use in fields since 2016. Its stations are around 30 centimetres high and can be used to analyse air temperatures and humidity (hygrometry), as well as rainfall (pluviometry) and wind speed. Fitted with sensors connected to low-speed networks, they transmit this data to farmers every 15 minutes via an app. “Farmers can adapt irrigation or input use in real time,” says Martin Ducroquet, co-founder of the Lille-based business, which has installed over 33,000 sensors in Europe (including 20,000 in France). And the results are clear: “More than half of potato growers who use our app confirm that they have reduced their use of treatments by at least 30%,” he tells us, according to the results of a poll of 1,000 farmers who use the Sencrop solution.
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Technology is also being used to re-establish partially abandoned farming practices. French company Naïo Technologies has been marketing robots for hoeing, sowing and weeding since 2013. As we enter the agro-ecological transition, mechanical weeding has become essential to optimise weed control, particularly on organic farms, where the use of phytosanitary products is banned. More than 300 of these robots are in use worldwide, primarily in market gardening and viticulture. “The use of robots helps reduce soil erosion, the carbon footprint from agricultural activities and herbicide use,” according to a press release published in December 2022, at the time of the last EUR 32 million fundraising by the Toulouse-based global market leader.
The quest to eliminate chemical pesticides
The use of digital tools in agriculture is likely to increase in the upcoming years. For its part, France adopted the Ecophyto Plan II in 2015, which targets a 50% cut in phytosanitary products used on farms over 10 years.
Conscious of these regulatory developments, Investors are showing no hesitation in deploying more and more funds to young AgriTech start-ups According to the AgFunder fund, investments in AgriTech and FoodTech (new technologies applied to the farming and food sectors) start-ups came to USD 51.7 billion in 2021. These two sectors, jointly referred to as “AgriFoodTech”, account for thousands of start-ups worldwide, including 400 in France two years ago, according to INRAE.
Mental blocks
Despite all the green lights for the rapid development of digital tools on farms and in fields, some obstacles remain. “We are seeing underutilisation of digital systems,” says Bellon-Maurel. The explanation, she believes, is that farmers “do not know the cost and benefits of digitalisation” because few studies exist and they are confidential.
INRAE has drafted new evaluation protocols to remedy this. “The aim is to measure the economic and environmental benefits, but also the intangible benefits such as time savings and the fact that the work is less arduous,” Bellon-Maurel explains.
Read also: How regenerative farming is unleashing the power of the ladybird
Another obstacle is one that is not restricted to the farming world: mental blocks. People say “I can’t do it” or “It’s not for me”, but the keyword in response to this is training. Some initiatives exist, for example the AgroTIC Mobilab, a mobile lab that provides animations demonstrating digital technologies directly in the field. Supported by OccitANum, an innovation lab specialising in farming and food that is based in the Occitania region, the travelling lab gives demonstrations focussing on sensors and digitally connected objects to “raise awareness of the opportunities offered by digital technology, by showing how simple, innovative, low-cost solutions work.”
Although new technological procedures have yet to be widely embraced, France is top of the class. It is the leading European country when it comes to fundraising in this area and ranks in fifth place worldwide. Javelot has completed an EUR 10 million financing round to expand internationally and offer new services in the logistics field, while Sencrop has raised USD 18 million to consolidate its position as a leader in Europe. With French AgriTech launched only two years ago, the French government aims to invest EUR 200 million in innovative projects over a five-year period.
Important information
This document is issued by Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd or an entity of the Group (hereinafter “Lombard Odier”). It is not intended for distribution, publication, or use in any jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, or use would be unlawful, nor is it aimed at any person or entity to whom it would be unlawful to address such a document. This document was not prepared by the Financial Research Department of Lombard Odier.
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