IoT is the only way farming will feed future generations, says Monsanto

“It’s not a question of if agriculture is going to adopt it, but when, and how fast. If we look at the population of the world today, between now and 2050, there will be 9.7 billion people. By 2100, there will be 11 billion. This means that between now and 2050, we have to increase our food production by at least 50 per cent to feed everyone,” explained Borg Exelmans, director of vegetables in the EMEA region for Monsanto.
Exelmans said the rise of IoT style low-power connectivity, wedded to new techniques in big data analytics and automation, present the farming community with opportunities to improve agricultural performance. But time is short, he said.

“If you look back, 70 per cent of all water consumption on the planet goes to agriculture – on fertilizers, pesticides, chemicals. So we need to figure out a solution that makes sure that all those inputs go down per square metre in our agriculture,” he explained, noting also the high CO2 emissions from farm machines. “How do we bring those down?”

The farming industry’s costly drain on resources, and also its biggest opportunity to drive new efficiencies, is in food wastage, however, said Exelmans. “One third of global food production, or about 1.3 billion tonnes annually, is not being used. With 1.3 billion tonnes, we can feed 800 million people.”