IT Solutions and Startups for Agriculture presented on AGROIT forum 2020
Just recently, on September 17, 2020, Ukraine hosted its fifth annual forum for IT-solutions and innovations in agribusiness AGROIT forum 2020. This is one of the biggest and well-attended business events in the AgroTech industry that gathers the most prominent names in agriculture and some of the most innovative digital creators and developers.
The agri-businessmen share their experience in applying IT-products in their field of work, explain the effectiveness and economic benefits of said implementations while the developers present their latest ideas, products and even agricultural startups. Farmers and agricultural holdings, machinery producers and distributors, and IT-solutionists come together at AGROIT forum to create the future of agriculture.
In the past century, the population of our planet has grown dramatically and continues to grow consistently. This means there’s a steady demand for more food. And even though we know very well that the disbalance of food distribution and availability across the world is sometimes appalling, the fact remains true and our society requires more products every year.
When someone says ‘farming’ or ‘agriculture’, most of us tend to imagine something rural, undeveloped, perhaps lagging behind the technological progress. And this is where we are absolutely wrong. Modern agriculture is a fast-developing field of science and business where our natural resources are increased inefficiency and yield while reduced in waste and loss.
Modern technologies applied in agriculture (agrotech) are cutting edge and are turning data into profit and abundance. There are irrigation sensors, picking robots and machines that have automated ploughing, planting and weeding. Technology is helping us to make our soils maximally adaptable, efficient and chemically suitable for whichever crop we need to produce.
Technology in Agribusiness needs to solve a big looming problem for us: how to optimize food production so that by the year 2050 this Earth can sustain about 9 billion people. Food needs to be produced at faster rates, with less effort and fewer expenses for it to be affordable. So, some of the brightest technological minds have directed their eyes, hand and brains towards creating smart farming technologies and intelligent agricultural solutions.
IT Solutions for Agriculture presented on AGROIT forum 2020
Xarvio Digital Farming Solutions
For over 25 years Xarvio has been offering its clients farm solutions and digital products that provide farmers with independent field-zone-specific agronomic advice. These farm solutions help farmers secure more efficient crop production and reduce waste.
Xarvio’s intelligent agricultural solutions include field monitoring, managing the soil nutrient levels and allocating areas and time of spraying the crops. With their scouting features, they will help you with weed and disease identification, crop emergence and leaf damage analyses; the app will even tell you what the nitrogen uptake of your wheat is.
Xarvio also offers its clients a sign-up service called HEALTHY FIELDS where a team of experts will come up with a customized and calculated strategy for your crop protection.
FIeldBi
FieldBi is an electronic land surveyor that visualizes your land and fields for you in a form of an electronic map that digitizes all sorts of data for you, such as, fields, plots, contracts, contractors, etc.
This new technology in agriculture and business allows users to track the situation with your land bank in real-time, compare the accounting areas with the actually cultivated ones, automatically keep status statistics by individual shares, fields, farms, etc. The app is gifted with a powerful analytical unit that provides accurate statistics on general information, purpose, types of land, years of completion of contracts, etc. and automatic analysis of all possible deviations in real-time.
AgriChain
Another agritechnology company worth looking into is AgriChain. It’s a platform that connects the stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain and helps them navigate their business relationships faster, more efficiently, with less paperwork and less risk.
The platform combines a user-friendly design of a mobile app for farming, logistics providers with robust web software for business administration, thus covering the entirety of the supply chain and its stakeholders. The software keeps every key figure in a transaction informed in real-time and is perfectly transparent for all involved.
Soft.Farm
Another agrotech player Soft.Farm has created a transparent analytical system of agricultural activity that combines data from various systems and allows for a holistic approach to management decisions. The software incorporates cartograms of soil properties, ago scouting, land banking, agrotechnology, GPS monitoring of equipment, gives access to meteorological observations and satellite images.
The software also has a zootechnic side, as in, an app that helps you deal with your farm animals. It basically gives the user an opportunity to create electronic passports for their animals, monitor zootechnic activities, control feed rations and never forget a single task or procedure one needs to perform on their animals. Economic analysis also helps plan the development of the stock in order to achieve optimal efficiency.
Robotec – lifesaving robotics
Robotec is one of those startups that take care of the “tech” in agrotech. Their mission says that they create robots that save human lives. Not all of these robots are directly connected with agrotechnology, but at least one is. Agrotec is an AI-based robotic platform that serves to protect your crops in a chemical-free way. It has a function of pest and disease identification and uses microwave technology to rid your crops of weeds. The robot can analyze soil samples, use ozone-water to sanitize the crop patch, and detect anomalies in crops at an early stage thanks to its intelligent vision system. This new farming technology promises a nearly 50% reduction in cost as compared to standard treatment.
Yara
Yara is the world’s leading fertilizer company as well as a provider of intelligent agricultural solutions that are directed at promoting sustainability and addressing global agricultural and humanitarian challenges this planet faces.
Among its other products, Yara has invested heavily in developing the so-called digital farming. This project is supposed to accommodate and boost Yara’s future farming tools and all together benefit the farmers. They’ve teamed up with IBM to create what they call, the world’s most comprehensive global digital farming platform.
It will give farmers maximum insights on their crops, will provide computer-driven decision support using simulation and precise data, and allow for less waste and higher efficiency, which means higher yield and sustainability, too.
Best AgroTech summits
Just like with nearly any industry today, agritechnology has its niche when it comes to exchanging experience and knowledge, boasting new developments and finding buyers for innovative machinery. Here are a few events to attend if you’re looking for a business in agriculture.
World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit
Not a surprise that next year (March 9-10, 2021) World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit is going virtual with topics and themes reflecting the current state of the world. Agricultural professionals and enthusiasts will digitally congregate to discuss and solve problems of responsible food production and food safety, automation, sustainability and other factors influencing the global food supply.
Representatives of top agriculture companies, food brands, growers, agriculture startups, and investors will get together for virtual fireside chats, networking and sharing best practices. Participants will have an opportunity to schedule one-on-one meetings with potential partners and clients while also participating in talks and listening to lectures.
FIRA.International Forum of Agricultural Robotics
FIRA has a well-established reputation of a leading agriculture-meets-robotics event for professionals in this sector. It was first created and organized by Naïo Technologies but will from now on be empowered and run by GOFAR – Global Organization for Agricultural Robotics.
The mission of the non-profit organization and the event itself is to develop and promote the international agricultural robotics sector and provide the players and relevant stakeholders with opportunities to meet, learn and trade. The summit will offer its participants workshops, table talks, pitches and demo presentations of robots and other technologies. For the entirety of November, you can still register for a regular ticket but comes December 1, you’ll only be allowed a late registration with a double fee. However, the event attendance for farmers is free of charge.
