EMERGING TECHONOLGIES IN FIELD OF

AGRICULTURE

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES:

The 21st century has seen enormous technological advancements throughout the

world. The usage of digital devices for communication, socializing, and data

storage, among other services, is something that almost everyone is familiar with

(Freedman 02). Technology breakthroughs have led to the creation of electronic

gadgets that can be used to send, receive, store, and access any type of information.

These innovations fall within the information and communications umbrella. Many

people in today's world make the error of believing that the technological

developments currently taking place are the only ones that are developing.

However, when it comes down to it, technical developments have been affecting

practically every area of life since the Neolithic era.

These outdated technologies have been replaced over time by newer ones that

appear to be more effective at completing the same functions. Emerging

technologies can be defined as developments and advancements seen across a

variety of technological fields. The majority of emerging technologies have

synchronised earlier advancements, enabling them to cooperate in order to

accomplish a common objective. The integration of visual, data, and telephonic

technologies to achieve the same objective of effective communication is a good

illustration of this. These technologies all used to function entirely on their own,

but not any longer. Different social services that serve as a form of social media

were invented by scientists.

Modernizing industries depends heavily on emerging technologies. Enterprises are

being transformed into a digital environment with the aid of new technologies.

This technology primarily benefits the manufacturing, energy, and transportation

sectors. Every time the phrase "technology" is used, something new is always

being developed or put into use that could benefit organisations. the desire to learn

more about technology and how it will affect how people live their lives on a daily

basis.

Radical originality, rapid growth, coherence, significant impact, uncertainty, and

ambiguity are characteristics of emerging technologies. In other words, a definition

of an emerging technology is "an extremely new and quickly developing

technology that exhibits a degree of coherence that endures over time and has the

potential to significantly affect the socio-economic domain(s) as seen in terms of

the makeup of actors, institutions, and patterns of interactions among those, as well

as the associated knowledge production processes. However, because its greatest

influence won't be felt for some time, the emerging phase is still a little vague and

unknown."

Emerging technologies cover a wide range of fields, including information

technology, robotics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.

The technological convergence of various systems evolving toward comparable

aims may lead to the emergence of new technological sectors. Through resource

sharing and interaction, convergence combines previously independent

technologies like voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity

applications), and video to produce new efficiencies.

Technical advancements that indicate progressive changes within a field for

competitive advantage are known as emerging technologies. Converging

technologies reflect formerly separate disciplines that are gradually moving toward

closer ties and shared objectives. However, opinions on the significance, relevance,

and commercial viability of various emergent and convergent technologies vary.

This paper discusses about the emerging technologies in the field of agriculture.
WHY DOES AGRICULTURE NEED EMERGING

TECHNOLOGIES?

By 2050, there will be 9 billion people on the planet, which would result in a 102

percent increase in the worldwide need for food. As a result, to assure the

availability of raw materials for food, feed, and fibre, agricultural productivity

must also rise by 60% to 70%. Each actor in the food system must make a

commitment to developing and enforcing practises that will reduce the use of

natural resources when possible and reuse, recycle, and repurpose them in all other

situations in order to ensure a sustainable future despite the current sustained and

intensified pressure on global resources. Governmental organisations can support

these initiatives by putting in place national and local policies and strategies for

effective resource management. Global adoption of sustainable farming methods

helps the agroecosystem meet the world's present food needs while also assuring

that future generations can do the same with the meagre resources they will have.

These approaches also emphasise holistic development, which includes the three

main pillars of sustainable development—environmental, social, and economic

sustainability.

Today, technological developments are essential to achieving agricultural

sustainability goals. Precision agriculture is made possible by satellite and GPS

technologies, sensors, intelligent irrigation, drones, and automation, to name a few.

This furthers the efficient use of resources. They both aid in the conservation of

non-renewable resources and the reduction of the usage of toxic agrochemicals.

They also assist farmers in making days-ahead preparations for unseasonal or

extreme weather events, which minimizes crop losses during such situations.

Biotechnology, controlled environmental agriculture (CEA), blockchain

technologies, and 3D printing, which enable the production of food products while

conserving time and energy, are additional technologies that show promise for

promoting sustainability. CEA improves food safety through greater transparency.

Farmers may now use the finest practices of both conventional and technologically

driven agricultural production to produce crops that are nutritious, high-yielding,

and cost-effective while still inflicting the least amount of environmental harm

feasible. Even rural farmers who are located far away can adopt climate-resilient,

sustainable farming methods that can yield financial rewards if they have access to

sufficient and timely information.

Stakeholders can achieve economic sustainability in a number of ways, one of

which is by obtaining optimal output levels at lower production costs. In order to

optimise agricultural operations and use the fewest resources possible, data from

satellite photos, sensors, and IoT devices helps decision-makers make more

informed choices. It also helps to reduce risks in order to achieve the highest crop
yields. Traceability solutions give stakeholders greater control over operations and

quality compliance while increasing the transparency of agro supply chains. It

enables them to notice problems and take action, such as food loss or waste, as

well as chances to make operations more affordable. Additionally, they speed up

the stakeholders' response to food crises, preventing losses of up to millions of

dollars. Traceability to source, correct certification, and product labelling give

agricultural firms a competitive edge that helps them get access to domestic and

international markets and improves smallholder farmers' ability to realise higher

prices. The agroecosystem is embracing technology quickly, but its full potential

has not yet been realized. Agriculture has seen a profound transition over the past

50 years as a result of digitalization, which has increased its worldwide speed, size,

and productivity. With the advent of Agriculture 4.0, the fourth agricultural

revolution, agri-stakeholders now have a wide range of technological options at

their disposal to assist them in achieving their objectives, including connected

sensors, IoTs, remote sensing, GPS, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

Scientists' perspectives on how we farm today are changing due to growing

environmental concerns.

Despite accounting for about 65 percent of all employment in India, the agriculture

industry only contributes roughly 18 percent of the country's GDP. The

government wants to raise agricultural production as a percentage of GDP, but

there are still a number of obstacles to overcome despite major improvements in

food grain production.

India's agriculture is heavily reliant on the natural world yet concerns with the

climate and global warming make farming uncertain. Teaching farmers how to

employ cutting-edge technology and creative strategies to boost production and

profitability is urgently needed. Over time, it has been apparent that agricultural

development practises use up natural resources more quickly than they can be

replenished. The "natural" carrying capacity of the land is under strain to meet the

demand for food and shelter brought on by the exponential expansion in the human

population.

Pollution, degraded soil, declining wildlife populations, and changes to flora and

fauna brought on by humans are all signs of natural imbalance. It is reasonable to

predict that the agri-ecosystem will face higher demands as a result of the

continued growth in human population. Therefore, technology has played a vital

role in agricultural and sustainable development and will continue to do so in the

future. With the development of digital technology, the use of technology in

farming and agricultural operations has widened.

Mentioned below are some of the most popular emerging technologies in field of

agriculture.

AGRICULTURE ROBOTICS:

Agricultural robots are specialised technological devices that can help farmers with

a variety of tasks. They can be programmed to develop and adapt to meet the

requirements of different activities, and they have the ability to assess, consider,

and perform a variety of tasks.

There are a huge variety of jobs that agricultural robots may perform for farmers to

make their lives easier. Their main responsibility is to complete laborious,

repetitive, and physically taxing duties. Robots are now, however, being employed

for a variety of specialised tasks that were previously solely performed by skilled

farmers. Picking out delicate produce, like lettuce and strawberries, is one example

of this.

ROBOTS IN CROP HARVESTING:

Robotics is being used to lessen the physical demands of this activity because crop

harvesting has historically been a difficult labour for farmers all over the world.
Although farming is a tedious and repetitive activity that must be done, due to the

nature of the work, robots are perfectly suited to step in and take over.

The manual dexterity needed to choose different fruits and veggies has been the

only genuine concern in this situation. Every variety of produce has specific needs,

which necessitates extensive research and mechanical know-how. Leafy vegetables

are prone to rips, whilst fruits are known to bruise exceptionally easily. The robots

that will be assigned to this work need to be programmed with a great deal of

precision in order to tackle this problem. Fortunately, a few well-known companies

are already filling this huge gap in agri-tech.

ROLE OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY:

Cambridge University is one of the top names in this area of agricultural robots.

They have developed a special robot called "Vegebot," a prototype that uses

computer vision to harvest crops with astonishing accuracy.

This robot was specifically created by Cambridge University to be able to pick

lettuce plants, a task that was previously thought to be very impossible for

machines to perform.

The "Vegebot's" camera enables it to scan the lettuce and determine whether or not

the specific plant is ready for harvest. When it determines that the plant is ready to
be harvested, the robot utilises a second camera that is mounted next to the blade to

direct its movements.

Another well-known American company, Harvest Croo, specialises in building

harvesting robots for difficult crops. Due to the infamously proneness of

strawberries to damage during the harvesting season, they currently specialise on

picking strawberries.

Instead of the single arms that are often employed in agricultural robots, their

robot, known as Berry 5, is a combination of multiple components. These elements

can aid Berry 5 in doing difficult tasks like gripping the strawberry bush leaf,

selecting the strawberry with care, and packaging it away securely.

Abundant Robotics has developed a unique vacuum robot that makes use of

cutting-edge technology to reduce the burden of selecting crops like apples from

orchards.

This robot can distinguish between ripe and mature apples using computer vision

as well. Once it has focused on the proper apples, the robot can suck them down

using a vacuum tube without damaging the fruit. The prototype stage of this robot

was a huge success, and it has since been tested on New Zealand's fields with great

success.

ROBOT FARMING:
This is the logical progression for agricultural robots. Specialized robotic farms

have been developed by businesses like Iron Ox and Bowery Farming that are fully

autonomous and able to cultivate a variety of vegetables.

With the aid of technology like hydroponic pods, vertical farming, artificial

intelligence, and computer vision, these American IT giants are able to grow a

variety of leafy greens, herbs, and specialty fruits. In these circumstances, humans

are solely in charge of basic maintenance and supervisory tasks; robots manage the

farms entirely.

There is no doubt that this is the future of agriculture, despite the fact that this is

still a ground-breaking new concept being developed in isolated regions of the

world.

PROS:

Farmers are being helped by robots, which relieve them of physically taxing and

time-consuming tasks so they can use their free time to perform other critical tasks.

In order to monitor their farms, make critical decisions based on new data, and

even stay one step ahead of problems in the future, this includes using machine-

learning algorithms, A.I., and UAVs.

CONS:

Due to the fact that this technology is still in its infancy, not all farmers will be

able to afford to purchase it. Therefore, the majority of robotics require extensive

testing and even mass production before they are accessible to farmers in

developing and underdeveloped nations.

Robotics also poses a danger to a sizable number of daily wage labourers who

depend on agriculture jobs to make a living. This industry could face a problem of

unemployment if robots replaces it.

CLOSED ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS:

Ecosystems known as closed ecological systems (CES) do not rely on matter

exchange with any component outside the system.

The phrase is most frequently used to refer to small, artificial ecosystems. Such

systems have scientific value and have the ability to support life during space

travel, in space stations, or in space habitats.

Any waste materials created by one species must be utilised by at least one other

species in a closed ecological system. Waste products like carbon dioxide, faeces,

and urine must finally be transformed into oxygen, food, and water if the goal is to

sustain a life form like a mouse or a person.

At least one autotrophic creature must exist in a closed ecological system.

Although both chemotrophic and phototrophic organisms are conceivable,

practically all closed ecological systems up to this point have been built around an

autotroph like green algae.

An ecosphere is a closed ecological system that covers a whole globe.

Biosphere 2, MELiSSA, the BIOS-1, BIOS-2, and BIOS-3 programmes are

examples of man-made closed ecological systems that were developed to support

human existence.Bottle gardens and aquarium ecospheres are self-sustaining

closed ecosystems that can be built or purchased in glass containers that are

partially or completely enclosed. They might consist of microscopic shrimp,

Gorgonia, algae, pebbles, or beautiful shells.

The process of planning and constructing completely enclosed ecological test

settings has already begun by humans. Building habitats that can sustain life with

air, water, and food in remote locations like the moon is the goal of projects like

the space station and biospheres. We can learn how to design bio-regenerative

ecosystems by researching ecology, chemistry, biology, and weather patterns.

Science has been aided by the development of bioregenerative food production

systems for the space station and closed ecological systems, which have also posed
challenges to established scientific hypotheses. Scientists discovered that many

plants' growing tips bow in different directions, especially climbing plants, and that

this behaviour is caused by an interaction between the plant's internal signals,

gravity, and light, not simply gravity.

According to studies, the root waving and twisting patterns that occur during

sprouting on Earth and in space are similar. This suggests that gravity has a

minimal role in these root development patterns. Plant research conducted aboard

the space station showed that the basic processes and plant development cycle are

independent of spaceflight settings.

The difficulties faced by bioregenerative life support in an artificially confined

ecological system are analogous to those faced by our planet's biosphere. It is

becoming increasingly clear that the Earth's ecosystem can no longer safely absorb

pollutants created by humans as the human population grows.

The broad plea for avoiding the depletion of natural resources in order to preserve

an ecological balance has been prompted by the loss of biodiversity, reliance on

non-renewable natural resources (fossil fuels), and conversion of wild habitats for

human use. The Earth's biosphere's tiny volumes and rapid cycling times make it
evident that ecosystems must be created to ensure the regeneration of the water and

atmosphere, the recycling of nutrients, the creation of nutritious food, and secure

environmental processes for the maintenance of technical systems.

A sign of new perspectives and technologies in the global environment is the

expansion of technical systems that can be completely integrated with and

supportive of biological systems. Closed ecological systems provide chances for

public education and a shift in how we think about living in global biosphere.

Closed ecological systems can include both natural systems of many kinds and

man-made ones that have been organised and managed by humans. These can

include everything from agricultural systems to mesocosms, microcosms, and

aquaria, which may be used in the real world or for research. Regarding material

cycling, some usage can require the construction of totally closed systems. In every

situation, mathematical modelling may aid in understanding the system's dynamic

forces and the design strategies for control to maintain the system running within

acceptable ranges.

Widespread usage of the term "closed ecological system" However, there is no

accepted metric for determining when ecological systems are closed. Numerous
universal estimates must be produced in order to ensure the repeatability of

experiments with closed ecological systems, both natural and man-made.

Using a closed ecological system, all nutrients and organic matter are recycled

back into the soil where the crop was grown. This method of farming maintains the

soil's levels of nutrients and carbon and enables the practise of balanced farming.

Several goals need the use of closed ecological systems. Closed ecological systems

in small bio spheric systems help with the in-depth observation of global

ecological processes and biogeochemical cycles, while material closure in space

enables significant life-supporting materials to be conserved inside and recycled.

Closed ecological systems make it easier to study research subjects like genetically

modified organisms that must remain isolated from the outside world so that their

ecological interactions can be studied separately from those with the outside

environment. Managing daily and seasonal variations of vital living elements like

carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, and nutrients as well as handling quicker cycling

rates are among the numerous ecological challenges that must be overcome in

order to close a system.

How to manage atmospheric dynamics, which includes trace gases, recycle

nutrients, maintain soil fertility, sustain clean air and water, and avoid the loss of

essential elements are among the challenges of achieving sustainability in a closed

system. The difficulty in creating similarity to the natural population of flora and

fauna as well as ecosystems in closed ecological systems.

The dynamics and genetics of small populations, the psychological difficulties

faced by small, isolated human groups, and potential solutions that may be

required to guarantee the long-term functionality of closed ecological systems are

additional problems.

For more than 20 years, closed ecological systems that have been artificially

produced have been the subject of theoretical and experimental research. These

systems ranged in size from a volume of under a pint to thousands of cubic yards.

The system's incorporated components span a wide spectrum, from exclusively

aquatic systems to soil-based systems that incorporate many aspects of the planet's

ecology.

Human-made closed ecosystems have a variety of uses in human settlements on

Earth, including planning for a high quality of life in locations with harsh

environmental conditions like deserts, mountains, and industrially contaminated

areas. The creation of an eco-home aimed at giving people a high quality of life in

the Arctic and Antarctic is also of utmost importance.

Energy technology has advanced to the point that it is now possible to deliver fresh

veggies on demand, purify water and air, and maintain regular colour and light

conditions throughout the winter. The viability of closed ecological systems based

on the technology outlined depends on the amount of energy available and the will

of decision-makers.

While much has been discovered about how these closed ecological systems work,

much more has to be researched in order to better understand how the Earth's

closed ecological system works.

VERTICAL FARMING:

Vertical farming, commonly referred to as indoor farming, is the practise of

cultivating plants indoors. Vertical farms use LED illumination and carefully

regulated growing and nutrition systems in place of sunlight and rain. As a result of

the vertical layering of the plants, many of the farms resemble warehouses with

many tall shelving units.

Vertical farming is regarded as a very effective and environmentally friendly

method of food production. In comparison to a conventional farm, Nordic Harvest

claims to use 250 times less water.

The secret to great efficiency is automation. In order to monitor crops and establish

ideal growing conditions, vertical farms use a variety of technologies, including

software, robotics, and data science. Controlling the temperature, humidity, CO2,

and light is part of this.

Regulated environment agriculture of this type lessens the influence of the vertical

farm on the environment by reducing the need for herbicides, for example.

Vertical farming can offer local produce from nearby buildings rather than

cultivating it on large fields and then transporting it over great distances in trucks

and aeroplanes. Food will be fresher and consume less fuel as a result.

Additionally, vertical farms frequently yield more than traditional farms do. Plants

may be picked 15 times a year, according to Nordic Harvest. A typical field is

harvested twice a year.

According to The Choice, by carefully regulating the growing environment, items

can survive 13 to 14 days as opposed to three to four days for identical products

from conventional agriculture.

The biggest barrier to vertical farming is cost. Rain and sun are both free. Not

when it comes to running complicated growing systems, software, or LED lighting.

While some buildings use electricity generated by wind turbines, Free Think

asserts that vertical farms powered by fossil fuels may actually make the problem

of climate change worse rather than better.

It might be costly to purchase urban real estate on which to construct a vertical

farm. According to Duke University in the US, the average price per square metre

for city centre land in Melbourne, Australia, is about $3,500.

Nevertheless, Statista predicts that the worldwide vertical farming business would

expand steadily from $5.5 billion in 2020 to almost $20 billion by 2025.