Using Data to Further Technological Advances in Agriculture

Although agriculture is always growing and changing, for the most part, we do things pretty similar to how it's always been done. There are things however that have been simplified with technology that gives us a good indication of where the future of agriculture is headed. A word that has been thrown around more recently is “datafication” which is the use of technology and data to promise better yields, lessen waste, and help more farmers receive fair pay for their crops. You can learn more about how they plan to bridge the data gap in agriculture below.?

This Week in Agriculture

“Digital technologies are facilitating the flow of data through the food system, shrinking information” - From the Article Below

Data has the tremendous potential to transform how the world’s farmers put food onto the tables of over eight billion consumers. Meanwhile, fintech is disrupting the traditional, collateral-based system of agricultural lending to smallholder farmers which has resulted in a financing gap of around 150 billion dollars. Remote satellite data and in-situ sensors are improving the accuracy and reducing the cost of monitoring crop growth and the quality of land or water. Whether it’s today’s soil quality, next season’s rainfall, or the long-term price stability of maize in Mozambique, digital technologies are facilitating the flow of data through the food system, shrinking information asymmetries and fashioning new markets along the way.?

Good decisions are fundamental for agricultural growth. Yet, decisions can only be as good as the evidence that informs them. The scarcity of high-quality, timely agricultural data makes it extremely difficult for policymakers to make sound decisions to drive their country’s economic growth and reduce poverty. This leads to suboptimal outcomes, causing losses in productivity, shortfalls in agricultural income, and, ultimately, more hunger and poverty. Closing the agricultural data gap, and keeping it closed, is therefore a critical precondition for the evidence-based decision-making and investments needed to foster agricultural development.

The 50x2030 Initiative to Close the Agricultural Data Gap was developed to answer this need. 50x2030 is a 10-year, US$500 million program that aims to increase the capacity of 50 low- and lower-middle-income countries to produce, analyze, interpret, and apply data to decisions in the agricultural sector that support rural development and food security. 50x2030 supports countries to collect high-quality data that are sufficiently disaggregated to elucidate underlying trends and patterns, which is critical for monitoring inequality and targeting programs effectively. It strengthens a country's capacity to identify the data they need to increase and sustain evidence-based decision-making in agriculture for economic, human, and social development.?

To read the full story, you can find it here; https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/mind-gap-enabling-data-smart-agriculture-all

Let’s Discover Ag

This week on Discover Ag, Natalie and I are covering the top 3 trending food and agriculture news pieces you need to know this week are:

• Just Eat the Non-Organic Blueberries – Here’s Why You Should Disregard the ‘Dirty Dozen’
• Texas oyster farms collect their first harvest
• The worst farm fire in decades kills 18,000 cows in West Texas. Tune in on YouTube or listen to the episode at the link below!

Listen here: https://pod.link/1615443750/episode/b1a27887ff49f667a730160e2f35f947

Advocacy Resource

Greenhouse-gas emissions from dairy cows have shown a decline globally during a 10-year period, a new study has found. Launched by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and the Global Dairy Platform, the report is entitled “Climate Change and the Global Dairy Cattle Sector.” During a 10-year period from 2005 to 2015, the study calculated greenhouse-gas emissions from the dairy sector and found reductions in all regions of the world. This is why great data is so important in the world of agriculture, to learn more about this study you can find it here; https://www.agupdate.com/agriview/news/business/efficiency-reduces-greenhouse-gas-emissions/article_2ef75faa-eb48-58f2-9796-2c3bbb4cdc11.html

Thank you for being here and if there’s something you’d like to hear opinions on or learn more about, you can find me on Instagram at @TaraVanderDussen or feel free to join the conversation on the Discover Ag Instagram. Have a great weekend everyone!