Innovation and Challenges in Agriculture

1. Innovation and Challenges inAgriculture Siva K Balasundram, PhD Dept of Agriculture Technology | Faculty of Agriculture siva@upm.edu.my

2. Agriculture in motion … • Basic food requirement • The Green Revolution • Self-sufficiency • Cutting-edge technologies • The new agriculture

3. “Disneyfication” effect • Business-driven • Exciting • Creative

4. Creativity can be subjective!

5. How far have we progressed? • abundant food supply in the developed world • fresh fruits and vegetables all year-round • affordable food • luxury / specialty foods such as coffee, tea, chocolate and spices around the world • effective food preservation technologies (refrigeration, freezing, canning, packaging)

6. How far have we progressed? … (2) • mechanization to produce high labor efficiency • improvements in soil conservation • agricultural inputs for quick solutions to production problems

7. Innovation and technologies for production agriculture Concept: Planting Harvesting Agronomic management fertilization, pest & disease control, irrigation

8. Superior planting material • seeds • hybrid, clonal, varietal • tissue culture • genetic engineering • high-yielding • pest/disease resistance • shorter growing cycle • weather adaptation

9. Genetic engineering • involves modification of genes in plants and animals in order to produce new attributes • introduction of a gene from the same or another species • or • modification of gene (one or more) expression • recombinant DNA technology

10. Cover Gene transfer

11. Planting technique Seed drill

12. Fertilizer technologies • Aim: To increase nutrient uptake efficiency • Sources • Organic (plant / animal biomass) • Chemical (e.g. coated urea) • Natural (e.g. rock phosphates) • Delivery • Cover crop (‘green manure’) • Compound (‘3-in-1’ / 4-in-1’) • Trunk injection (for tree crops) • Foliar application

13. Pest & disease control technologies • Aim: To reduce infestation/infection without affecting yields or the environment • Selectivity of pesticide • Biological control agents • Cultural control methods • Integrated pest/disease management • Application techniques http://phys.org/news/2013-11-drones-spy-wheat-disease.html

14. Irrigation technologies • Aim: To increase water use efficiency • Sprinkler techniques • Drip irrigation • Automatic scheduling and monitoring http://www.agannex.com/sustainability/new-website-brings-high-end-irrigation-to-potato-growers http://usf.vc/updates/not-a-drop-to-spare-in-india/

15. Precision agriculture • A holistic farm management strategy which allows adjustment of agricultural inputs so as to match varying soil/crop needs and field attributes • Quantification of spatial and/or temporal variability • Linking such variability to management actions

16. Spatial variability  differences across space / distance http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/plant/roel/gis%20in%20rice.htm

17. Temporal variability  differences across time / season http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/articles.00/SSF_Oxymoron-0514.html

18. Precision agriculture components • Global Positioning System (GPS) • guidance & autopilot navigation • Remote / proximal sensors • Geographic Information System (GIS) • Variable Rate Application (VRA) • Neural networks • Decision Support System (DSS)

19. GPS • Yield monitor • Sensors (ground/remote) • Grid/directed sampling GATHER INFORMATION • Database management PROCESS & ANALYZE INFORMATION • VRA • DSS • Geostatistics • GIS • Neural networks IMPLEMENT CHANGE Precision agriculture is a cyclic process …

20. Aquaponics • Interdependence between fish and plants • The fish produces bio-nutrients for the plants, while the plants clean the water, creating a perfect environment for the fish to grow and develop http://aquaponicsdesignplans.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/diy-tilapia-aquaponic/

21. Vertical farming • A closed loop, where: • food is produced in the sealed vertical farm • gray water is purified through condensing transpired water • energy is produced by burning the waste in plasma arc incinerators Year round production | No weather related crop failures | No agricultural runoff No use of pesticides or fertilizers | Use of 70-95 % less water | Greatly reduces food miles More control of food safety and security | Animal feed from postharvest plant material http://www.ecofriendlyhouses.net/vertical-farm.html

22. The big issues in agriculture … • Food security balance of trade in food • Food safety product traceability • Sustainable production Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) • Production efficiency inputs (labor, fertilizers, pesticides) • Environmental protection off-site chemical loading; soil quality • Crop quality nutritive value • Biofuel production efficient feedstocks, food vs fuel? • Water & air pollution green technology

23. Other worrying issues … • Continuing hunger (and rise of obesity !!!) • Failing farms, economic uncertainty, stress • Declining agricultural communities • Chronic diseases linked to agricultural chemicals • Farmland loss to development

24. Challenges facing agriculture • 1) Resource scarcity • agricultural land (declining acreage, soil fertility problems) • human capital(lack of skilled workers, age gap) • 2) Growing population • Malaysia (30 million) • World (> 7 billion) • 3) Climate change • reduction in the amount of arable land for agriculture • reduction in crop productivity • a serious threat to food security

25. Challenges facing agriculture … (2) • 4) Technological pressure • conventional agricultural practices cannot meet the current production demand • high quantity & quality of agricultural produce / products with minimum labor! • K-factor • high start-up cost • 5) Oil politics • > USD100 per barrel • snowball effect! http://www.oil-price.net/

26. Farms of the future ? The future of farms ?

27. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/11452903/FARM-of-the-FUTURE

28. Farms of the future http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/01/13/3d-farming-26-vertical-farms-and-green-skyscrapers/