Practitioners of sustainable agriculture seek to integrate three main objectives into their work: a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social and economic equity. Every person involved in the food system—growers, food processors, distributors, retailers, consumers, and waste managers—can play a role in ensuring a sustainable agricultural system.
There is a concentrated effort to modernize the agriculture industry, and data-driven weather intelligence is the key to sustainability. Managing the decision-making processes of farming has always been complex because there are so many different limiting factors that aren’t within a farmer’s control. The weather itself being chief among them.
Big data is out there, and we are leveraging it to help modern agriculture evolve so that it relies less on manual input and more on data-driven analysis. We understand that it’s impractical to rely on intuition and traditional technology while the global population continues to expand and pressure continues to build in the agriculture industry. As a result, we are developing solutions for agriculture that use automatic data collection, predictive analytics and AI-driven insights as their very foundation for sustainable agriculture.
The vision of sustainable agriculture involves people in a variety of capacities throughout the industry. We will explore how we got to this point and why modern agricultural practices are the logical next step for the world to thrive.
There are many practices commonly used by people working in sustainable agriculture and sustainable food systems. Growers may use methods to promote soil health, minimize water use, and lower pollution levels on the farm. Consumers and retailers concerned with sustainability can look for “values-based” foods that are grown using methods promoting farmworker wellbeing, that are environmentally friendly, or that strengthen the local economy. And researchers in sustainable agriculture often cross disciplinary lines with their work: combining biology, economics, engineering, chemistry, community development, and many others. However, sustainable agriculture is more than a collection of practices. It is also process of negotiation: a push and pull between the sometimes competing interests of an individual farmer or of people in a community as they work to solve complex problems about how we grow our food and fiber.
Topics in sustainable agriculture
Addressing Food Insecurity
Agritourism
Agroforestry
Biofuels
Conservation Tillage
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)
Cooperatives
Cover Crops
Dairy Waste Management
Direct Marketing
Energy Efficiency & Conservation
Food and Agricultural Employment
Food Labeling/Certifications
Food Waste Management
Genetically Modified Crops
Global Sustainable Sourcing of Commodities
Institutional Sustainable Food Procurement
Biologically Integrated Farming Systems
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Nutrition & Food Systems Education
Organic Farming
Precision Agriculture (SSM)
Soil Nutrient Management
Postharvest Management Practices
Technological Innovation in Agriculture
Urban Agriculture
Value-Based Supply Chains
Water Use Efficiency
Water Quality Management
Zero-Emissions Freight Transport
Sustainable and wise use of groundwater is important
The amount of arable land is likely going to remain constant. As the population steadily grows, we will need to produce more crops from existing resources. By the year 2050, there will be 9 billion people on the planet. To feed this growing population, food production must increase by at least 70%.
If the agriculture industry does not look beyond traditional strategies, future generations will not be able to produce and take advantage of our arable land. In the past, agriculture focused on taking full advantage of available land and yielding as many crops as possible. There was no focus on sustainable crop production or land preservation. From a financial standpoint there was no focus on profitability and conserving land and resources. These go hand-in-hand.
There are real advantages to committing to the development of technologically driven agricultural practices, and advanced weather data and analytics will help us get there. We aim to help growers and enterprises make better decisions based on weather data, so we can continue building towards the notable benefits of sustainable agriculture:
1. Conserving the environment and preventing pollution
By adopting sustainable practices, farmers will reduce their reliance on nonrenewable energy, reduce chemical use and save scarce resources. Keeping the land healthy and replenished can go a long way when considering the rising population and demand for food.
2. Reducing costs and focus on profits
Farming smarter and moving food from farm to fork in a more efficient manner will benefit everyone involved with the agriculture industry. IoT data from sensors installed in everything from seed drills, sprayers, and spreaders to drones, satellite imagery, and soil turn surprises into rarities.
3. Improving food production without being wasteful
As we have explained, the anticipated population increase is cause for concern. Today, there is an opportunity to develop agricultural practices from a pure production standpoint, and sustainable agriculture is the route with the most opportunity.
