Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 14, 2020 - December 20, 2020

If you are a regular visitor to Korean restaurants, you will know that kimchi is never missing from the table. It is a traditional side dish made from salted and fermented cabbage or radish that dates back over three millennia, according to some reports. The process of making kimchi, a tradition passed down through generations known as kimjang, is recognised as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage Item in South Korea.

 1  A sense of control

Agriculture is about control, says John-Hans Oei, CEO and co-founder of Cultiveat. It is mankind’s efforts to control the environment in which produce grows, to help ensure a stable food supply.

This is where agritech comes in. “The control of agriculture in the modern world is more precise than ever before, with full environmental control [available] in greenhouses or indoor farming. Technology has enabled the growing of plants without soil, and this is key as soil-grown produce is susceptible to flooding and extreme weather,” he says.

“Having experienced traditional farming myself, I’ve seen first-hand how traditional farms are at the mercy of their environment. Pests are uncontrollable without pesticides due to open planting, and there is always insufficient manpower due to the harsh environment and low efficiency.”

Oei points out that standard irrigation methods such as sprinklers often result in water going to waste and that changes in weather patterns can destroy crops overnight. “Due to the high risk, low yield and manual labour conditions of traditional farming, it is no wonder that the younger generation has no interest in agriculture.”

Agritech-driven farms often avoid these problems by growing crops indoors under controlled environments or by using technology to monitor the crops, weather and other factors.

For instance, Cultiveat uses precision farming technology to produce crops such as leafy vegetables and tomatoes without using pesticides commercially. “This capability is unique to our technology, as most vertical farming can only produce leafy greens and herbs,” he says.

 2  Predict and manage the weather

The weather has always been a wild card for farmers. However, weather data can now be predicted ahead of time and lowered to the field level to provide specific suggestions to farmers, says Catherine Lian, managing director of IBM Malaysia.

IBM has been working with The Weather Company to make this happen on its Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture.

“Also, Weather Signals is a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool that merges The Weather Company’s data with a company’s own operations data to reveal how minor fluctuations in weather affects business,” she says.

The system will provide advanced notifications of severe weather conditions and provide recommendations on how farmers can mitigate damage, such as covering the crops or preparing to drain rainwater at plots that are not harvested yet.

“Similarly, it can help farmers to [plan for] an early harvest if extreme weather is on its way. Variable-rate irrigation, fertilisation, early prediction and detection of pests and diseases and determining harvest loss are some other use cases,” Lian explains.

In other words, technologies such as AI, cloud, Internet of Things and blockchain can help modern farmers make better and faster decisions based on data.

 3  Opening up possibilities for farmers

One method through which farmers can start to adopt agritech is by establishing an indoor vertical farm, says Eleanor Choong, head of Sunway iLabs Ventures, which runs Sunway’s FutureX Farm.

Unlike traditional farming, simple technology is used to monitor temperature and humidity in the indoor farms. As such, sudden weather changes become less of a threat.

“Indoor farm crops are protected from the wind, rain or extreme weather such as typhoons or thunderstorms. Even remotely, we are able to monitor and tweak farm conditions to best suit the type of crops grown in the space to ensure optimum yields and quality,” says Choong.

Crops can be grown all year round in indoor farms, regardless of seasons and weather conditions.

“In desert-filled countries like Dubai, vertical farms are booming. We are seeing farmers grow strawberries, other fruits and a large variety of leafy greens in hydroponic container farms. Not only does this offer a miracle-like food solution to local communities, but also a sustainable and efficient method for the future of food production,” she adds.

The Sunway FutureX Farm uses hydroponics and aquaponics systems to grow crops in greenhouses and underutilised indoor spaces. “Hydroponics systems use 90% less water than traditional farming, as the water nutrients are recycled within the farm and there is minimum water evaporation,” Choong explains.

Interestingly, these systems kept the farm running even during the water cuts that affected the Klang Valley this year, as plants grown using hydroponics do not require as much water as those grown using traditional methods, she adds.

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