In Argentina, a large agricultural country in Latin America, the popularization of agricultural digital platform is accelerating, and the digital ability of farmers has been improved; In the “vegetable basket" of Europe, Spain, the application of the Internet of things makes vegetable and fruit planting more high-yield and efficient; In Israel, where arable land is scarce, digital innovation in the field of agriculture has formed a set of scientific research and promotion system. How to use digital technology to empower rural development and promote the transformation of traditional agriculture is becoming a joint effort of many countries in the world.
- Argentina
Digitalized technology makes farming easier.
"Through the monitoring equipment carried by the UAV and collecting relevant images and data of farmland in real time, we can know which areas need fertilization and which crops need pest control." Joaquin, a student of the Agricultural College of the University of La Plata in Argentina, explained to his father while operating the UAV. In addition to studying agricultural technology courses at school, Joaquin also participated in agricultural training in his hometown in his spare time to help his parents run family farms. "The use of numbers in agriculture is becoming more and more common. I hope to help parents master more digital technology in order to better improve efficiency and deal with risks."
In recent years, the Argentine government has jointly organized agricultural training courses with digital platform operators to help farmers skillfully use digital tools and improve agricultural production efficiency and sustainable development. More and more local farmers are learning to manage their farms using digital platforms. According to relevant data, in the past 18 months, the land area managed by digital platform in Argentina has increased six times, and more than 20% of agricultural areas have realized digital management.
Argentine agricultural technology consultant Gregorini said that the digital agriculture platform is an online platform integrating planting, spraying, harvesting, monitoring and other data. It visualizes the farmland information. Farmers can more easily manage crops and use satellite images to identify relevant factors affecting yield. After experiencing the convenience brought by "digital farming", his family not only carried out planting experiments of more crop varieties, but also planned to fully use digital means in their pasture. Joaquin's father said: "in the future, we can detect the growth of grass by sitting on a tractor and graze by UAV with our fingers."
In order to promote the efficient development of agriculture, many departments in Argentina are actively promoting the digital development of agriculture. In June this year, the Argentine federal public revenue administration, the Ministry of transportation and the Ministry of Agriculture announced that from November 1, digital waybills will be mandatory for all grain transportation, so as to further improve the efficiency of grain transportation and product traceability. Argentina Rosario Grain Exchange and fertilizer manufacturers jointly developed an application to digitally manage fertilizer production, distribution, transportation and other links. Gregorini said: "the use of digital means has changed the traditional mode of production management, which is a major progress for Argentine agriculture."
- Spain
Internet of things enhances the competitiveness of industrial chain.
In Almeria in southern Spain, greenhouses for planting fruits and vegetables are continuous, covering an area of more than 35000 hectares, which looks like a "white ocean" from the air. This is the main producing area of fruits and vegetables in Spain, with an annual output of about 4 million tons of fruits and vegetables, of which 80% are exported. Spain has always been known as the "vegetable basket" of Europe, and this "white ocean" has contributed a lot.
Almeria is at the forefront of the country in exploring more efficient and environmentally friendly planting patterns. In an agricultural pilot station in the province, Almeria University and Almeria Federation of vegetable and fruit producers are carrying out an agricultural digital experiment based on Internet of things technology. A total of 90 sensors are installed in the test station, which can detect soil nutrients, humidity, light and other information in real time. The electronic integrated management system then analyzes and forecasts the plant growth state and harvest by summarizing meteorological information. Based on this, producers can timely optimize production management and adjust the temperature, irrigation water and pesticide use. The system will also give early warning of extreme weather conditions in advance to facilitate producers to take preventive measures. The results showed that with the help of the electronic integrated management system, the unit yield of crops was increased by 6.9% to 8.3%, the production costs such as water and energy consumption were reduced by 5.2%, and the use of pesticides was reduced by 5.3%.
Cynthia Jagnocavo, a project participant and professor at Almeria University, said that the Internet of things has revolutionary potential and can promote the level of independent management and decision-making to a new level. With the help of this technology, agricultural production can obtain greater production capacity, higher quality and more sustainable development, and the overall competitiveness of the agricultural industrial chain will be improved.
- Israel
Scientific research promotion system stimulates innovation momentum.
Ori Ben Nell, a 34-year-old, is a date palm farmer in Israel. The first thing he starts every morning is to check the updated data of the farm supplant system. This is a set of irrigation system driven by artificial intelligence. By placing sensors around the plants, the information such as soil humidity, leaf temperature, fruit growth progress and current weather conditions are updated every 10 minutes. After data analysis and cloud algorithm, the system can accurately and automatically irrigate without human operation.
"Last year, through this precise irrigation system, we reduced water consumption by 40% and increased date production by 32%." Nell believes that the system helps him focus more on the quality and yield of agricultural products, and digital technology is changing the agricultural model.
Supplant system is a case of Israel promoting the development of agricultural digitization, automation and intelligence. Israel is dry with little rain, and the arable land area is only about 4400 square kilometers. The government attaches great importance to the innovation and application of agricultural science and technology. In the 1950s and 1960s, Israel developed drip irrigation technology. In recent years, Israeli agriculture has increasingly introduced digital technologies such as infrared thermal imagers, intelligent sensors, UAVs and satellite images to improve production efficiency and reduce the impact of extreme weather on agricultural production.
Israel has formed a set of agricultural scientific research and extension system closely coordinated by government departments, scientific research institutions and agricultural cooperation organizations. There are more than 30 public departments engaged in agricultural scientific research, more than 3500 high-tech companies, and many universities also have some related majors and research institutions. The government encourages the combination and transformation of academic research and commercial applications, including agricultural machinery automation, digital agriculture innovation, precision agriculture technology, etc. "In agriculture, 17% of the government budget is used to support scientific and technological research and development," said Michael levy, senior deputy director general of agricultural innovation of the Ministry of agriculture and rural development of Israel
Improving farmers' participation in the field of digital agriculture is also one of the priorities of Israel to promote sustainable agricultural development. In 2020, Israel launched a digital agricultural products trading platform to establish online procurement channels for small and medium-sized enterprises and farmers and reduce the circulation cost and terminal price of agricultural products. The Ministry of agriculture and rural development has also partnered with farmers' associations to launch farmers' training programs to improve farmers' digital marketing capabilities. It is expected that the trading volume of the digital trading platform will reach about 15% of the whole agricultural product market in the future.
