Farmers around the world face serious challenges in growing food more effectively.
Climate warming increases the risk of crop damage from insects, fungi, and bacteria.
So to manage the threat farms are turning to artificial intelligence (AI), robotics,
and computer vision to target pests more effectively.
In 2019 the United Nations reported on the pest burden causing crop losses of between
20 and 40 percent of global production each year. Damage from plant diseases, it said,
costs the world economy an estimated $220 billion annually, and invasive insects around
$70 billion.
Smart farming is one way to combat the problem, using AI and robotics to zap bugs and
reduce reliance on pesticides while addressing skilled worker shortages and adapting to
climate change. Technologies include soil and crop sensors, satellite and drone monitoring,
plus computer vision and AI data analysis to reduce the number of affected plants and
increase crop yields.
Insect monitoring services like the UK’s Spotta offer targeted real-time data on invasive
species. The company uses internet-connected dry traps to catch red palm weevils that
attack date palms, causing more than $1 billion of losses in the Middle East, Africa,
and North America each year.
Traps alert plantation workers to trees infested with weevils so they can eliminate
them before they cause any real damage. And this targeted approach means less pesticide
is used, reducing the impact on other species.
Similarly the Californian agriculture technology startup FarmSense uses optical
sensors and machine learning algorithms trained to find and track insects in real-time.
With non-native invasive insect species forecast to increase 36 percent worldwide by
2050, these technologies could give farmers a huge advantage in eco-friendly pest control
and food growing.
Precision spot spraying linked to AI is another valuable add-on that aims to minimize
pesticide and herbicide use. Spraying entire crops can harm insect pollinators like bees
and becomes part of agricultural run-off when it is washed out of soil. But targeting
weeds or insects using cameras and directed sprays can vastly reduce chemical use.
In the Czech Republic, scientists at Mendel University in Brno have built a prototype
robot that patrols greenhouses and can identify the different stages of insect growth.
It then applies just enough insecticide to kill individual pests, working 24 hours a
day to keep things under control.
Among Dutch cress growers, the answer to a troublesome moth species is killer drones.
Koppert Cress grows its product in chemical-free greenhouses and uses small autonomous
drones guided by a camera to kill moths on the wing using their rotor blades. The tiny
drone fleet is used alongside traps to keep greenhouses pesticide-free.
Companies like Root AI and 80 Acres Farms are banking on indoor growing and AI-controlled
systems as the future of farming. In the case of 80 Acres, its pesticide-free indoor
farms are monitored by AI every step of the way. Robots do a lot of the work and computer
vision lets them know if crops need more nutrients or if pests are causing damage.
Their efforts are part of what analysts say will be a $2.6 billion AI-farming market by
2025. Reimagining how farming operates will be crucial says the World Bank – reducing
its greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion, and biodiversity loss. And technology will
play its part in helping farmers improve their all-around crop management.
Trials at Columbia University are revealing how highly tailored food can be prepared
using a 3D printer and cooked to a mathematically precise finish using infrared and
blue light lasers. Printers are able to lay down millimeter accurate food designs that
are then heated and seared with pinpoint accuracy.
Columbia’s Creative Machines Lab team is hoping to build an automated digital personal
chef to deliver flavors, textures, and nutrition to suit individual tastes. So far their
experiments with chicken have created laser-cooked samples that have the same flavor
profile as conventional cooking, but shrink 50 percent less, and have double the moisture content.
“In fact, our two blind taste testers preferred laser-cooked meat to the conventionally
cooked samples, which shows the promise for this burgeoning technology,” said project
leader James Blutinger.
Creating software that would allow chefs to make their own designs – a Photoshop of
food – is the next step. “We need a high-level software that enables people who are
not programmers to design the foods they want,” said group leader Hod Lipson. “And
then we need a place where people can share digital recipes like we share music.”
Companies in the food industry regularly use ingredients injected into containers
and molded into appealing shapes. But playing with food chemistry, texture, and processes
like spherification, to create sweet or savory caviars, is often restricted to gourmet kitchens.
Now food printing and novel preparations are going mainstream. The world’s first 3D
printing restaurant – Food Ink – has served up treats to diners direct from printer
to plate. Meat substitute companies combine digital modeling with printing to create
different cuts of steak, and meat textures with fat marbling made purely from plant
proteins and fats.
Sugar and sweet treats were among the first food printer ingredients to become a hit
with home consumers, making food personalization – and snacks that can be quickly
customized – a growing trend. Miam Factory in Belgium 3D prints chocolate and laser
engraves its macarons for customers. And now a crowdfunded chocolate printer will allow
anyone to do it at home.
Or how about your own personalized 3D printed pizza? Well, it’s not all about
printing takeaway foods and sugary snacks: personalized means getting the right
nutritional content too. That could be people with medical reasons for special diets,
or athletes looking to maximize nutrients for performance.
Recreating nutrient-rich foods from a precise recipe should be as simple as sharing
a file on the internet, say Columbia’s engineers. Startup Anrich3D makes food printers
that take data from medical assessments, health trackers and apps, and combines it to
create individual meal plans based on ‘foodlets’ – rapidly printed ‘fast food’
that is cheap, healthy, and nutritionally balanced.
All of this could well change the way we think about and eat food. High on the list
of positives is the fact that printed food can be healthier, lessen the environmental
impact of food production – especially red meat – and cut waste.
Global food waste hit almost one billion metric tons in 2021. So emerging companies
that turn food waste into tasty dishes and food decorations – like Natural Machines
or Upprinting Food – are a welcome development. As food printing becomes more widespread,
we may see instant printed and recycled meals as the dietary solution we were looking for.