The digital revolution has brought valuable benefits to the world of agriculture, and promises to bring even more in the coming years thanks to the latest advances in sensors, data collection and the development of the metaverse as a tool for testing and studying soil and crop problems.
Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture 4.0
Digitalisation in the fields offers farmers the opportunity to have more sustainable crops thanks to precision farming. As we know, the use of drones, data measurement software and sensors make it possible to collect information remotely and in an easier way in order to minimise the waste of water and other natural assets. With the use of AI (artificial intelligence), the aim is to fight climate change and promote more sustainable and efficient agriculture. According to the Smart Agri-Food Observatory, the most used Agriculture 4.0 solutions are:
- 40% Business management software
- 23% Tracking and control systems for agricultural machinery and equipment
- 19% Crop and land mapping services
- 14% Crop and land monitoring systems
- 12% Decision support systems
The next step, the metaverse
Although it sounds very futuristic and may make many people think in video games, the metaverse is already taking shape in the agricultural world. Technology companies such as E-Geos, an Italian company focused on the study and spatial observation of soils, have developed the AgriGeo Platform, thanks to which it uses multiple sources and sensors to recognise the quality of soil by measuring its level of water stress or humidity. In this way, the farmer has the necessary information to improve the quality of his piece of land in less time. Using this method, a reduction of almost 40% in water and energy consumption is achieved. What the metaverse will bring to agriculture is efficiency in production systems and the ease of providing and solving problems remotely, without the need to always go to the field.
Applications in agriculture
In summary, in the world of agriculture, we can say that the metaverse will function as a simulation of farming and production systems, but in a virtual world. In this way, it will allow trials and information gathering for farmers and field technicians that would otherwise be much more complicated and waste a lot more time and money.
It can be used in:
- Data visualisation: farmers can use the metaverse to collect data more comprehensively for production optimisation and decision-making, as well as more easily visualise large amounts of data.
- Scenario simulation: different scenarios can be simulated and measured, e.g. to see which fertilisers and irrigation techniques are best suited to your soil type or crop according to the climate you are in.
- Education and training: the metaverse can also be used as a practice field for operating agricultural machinery or new tools or farming techniques remotely, eliminating the risk of damaging soil or equipment. It is a very useful tool when training future farmers and field technicians.
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