Biofach 2019

•••9••• Innovationen “Agriculture 4.0” is underway Responsible innovation key to smart farming – improved productivity and greater eco-efficiency While smart technologies will play an important role in achieving im- proved productivity and greater eco-efficiency, critics have sug- gested that consideration of the social impacts is being side-lined. In a new journal article Dr David Rose and Dr Jason Chilvers, from UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, argue that the concept of responsible innovation should underpin the so-called fourth ag- ricultural revolution, ensuring that innovations also provide social benefits and address potentially negative side-effects. Each of the previous revolutions was radical at the time – the first representing a transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture, the second relating to the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century, and the third to post-war productivity increases associated with mechanisation and the Green Revolution in the developing world. The current ‘agri-tech’ develop- ments come at a time when the UK government has provided £90 million of public money to trans- form food production in order to be at the forefront of global ad- vanced sustainable agriculture. Many other countries are also pri- oritising smart agri-tech. This, combined with private in- vestment from several organisa- tions, means that ‘Agriculture 4.0’ is underway, with technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics increasingly being used in farming. Dr Rose, a lectur- er in human geography, said: “All of these emergent technologies have uses in farming and may pro- vide many benefits. For example, robotics could plug potential lost labour post-Brexit in industries such as fruit picking, while robot- ics and AI could enable better chemical application, saving farm- ers money and protecting the en- vironment. They could also attract new, younger farmers to an age- ing industry.” Smart technologies will play an important role in achieving improved productivity and greater eco- efficiency. Photo: Joao Marcelo Marques on Unsplash Continued from page 1 Tailor-made solutions can be provided by Meurens Natural, the designer and producer of Sipal® range for 30 years. Website�: www.meurensnatural.com Phone�: +32. 87. 69. 33. 40 E-mail�: info@meurensnatural.com Visit us at Biofach 2019 Nuremberg Germany • Hall 2 • stand 409 13.02 > 16.02.19 ORGANIC CEREAL EXTRACTS BARLEY MALT SYRUPS WHEAT SYRUPS MANIOC SYRUP DATE SYRUP FIG SYRUP RICE SYRUPS OAT SYRUPS SPELT SYRUP CORN SYRUP Sipal® is a unique range of non refined organic cereal & dried fruits extracts, that fulfills a wide variety of sweetening & technical functionalities for all sectors of the agri-food industry.