On a bright blue day project manager Wijnand Sukkel stands in the expansive fields across from the university building with bare trees and of course, windmills in the background, and points at the strips of crops in the fields. Here in Leylstad, however, they’re experimenting with different agricultural methods including crop diversity, with eight different crops sown here at any one time including wheat, onions, potatoes, and broad beans.
The world population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion people in 2050, according to the UN. Mr Sukkel and his colleagues are developing sustainable farming systems to ensure there’s enough food for a growing global population, while also working to reduce carbon emissions.
The university started Farm of the Future four years ago after seeing biodiversity decline due to climate change. “We wondered if it was possible to design a high food production farm system with zero fossil fuel energy use, with no damage from pesticides and [that] was resilient to heavy rainfall or very long dry periods.”
The Netherlands is the second biggest exporter of agricultural goods worldwide. Including animal products, those exports are estimated to have increased by 9.4% to a record €104.7bn (£90bn; $114bn) in 2021, according to Wageningen Economic Research (WUR) and Statistics Netherlands (CBS). However, producing for such a large export market puts a lot of pressure on the nation’s environment.
So Mr Sukkel and his team are focused on sustainable production. “We need to regenerate soils and regenerate biodiversity. Right now all over the world is large-scale and uniform agricultural production which is very intensive and is killing the soil.” In the south-west of the Netherlands, Jacob van den Borne is a third-generation farmer producing mainly potatoes but also sugar beet, wheat and barley, as well as small crops like parsnips and sweet potatoes across 900 hectares of land. As well as selling at home, he also exports to countries such as England, Germany, Belgium and France.
Mr van den Borne started investing in a wider variety of crops when he noticed the soil quality was deteriorating. An advocate of precision farming, he turned to GPS technology to measure, analyse and research his crops as efficiently as possible in order to achieve a higher yield. He has invested in soil scanning technology which allows him to map and document every square metre of soil. “It gives me the ability to improve the soil potential and predict which are the good spots and fix the others.”
He is also tapping into sensors and data infrastructure. “I have spent about €1m on such investment, but I have a rule – don’t invest in new toys before the old ones are paid off.” He says he is investing in AI to help provide the answers in the future. “For example, asking questions like if there’s an issue in the field, we can try and figure it out with AI.”
“For me, the farm of the future is all about data, artificial intelligence and learning.”
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Article URL : https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66461769