{"id":3998,"date":"2023-06-26T13:02:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T13:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/?post_type=report&p=3342"},"modified":"2023-11-15T12:37:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T12:37:37","slug":"more-food-on-less-land-for-more-people","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/article\/more-food-on-less-land-for-more-people\/","title":{"rendered":"More Food, On Less Land, For More People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It is customary to list four agricultural revolutions: the first three were the industrial mechanization revolution in the 19th century, and the GM (genetically modified) seeds and pressurized irrigation revolutions, both of which occurred in the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fourth revolution, occurring in the 21st century, is called precision agriculture and is based on advanced technological tools such as Artificial Intelligence, sensors etc. that enable a much smarter decision-making process. The significance of each such revolution is the ability to grow more food on less land while feeding more people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climate changes are dramatically affecting agriculture. Every farmer gets up each morning faced with dozens of decisions that affect crop yield and most of these are related to the weather. Climate changes, that have made the weather far less typical of the actual season and significantly more extreme in both temperature (hot and cold) and rainfall, lead to serious crop loss and increase the need for “fourth-wave” technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Agriculture is one of the most traditional industries and it’s not easy to communicate with plants, but with today’s technology, we have now entered the fourth revolution that surpasses all the achievements of the previous ones”, says Ori Ben Ner<\/strong>, CEO of SupPlant<\/strong>. In many areas, SupPlant is even leading the way”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n SupPlant is an Israeli startup that has developed an agricultural irrigation technology based on Artificial Intelligence. “Our expertise is to take tools that were developed during the 1980s as research tools that are installed on the plant and were aimed at drawing conclusions about them, and implement these conclusions on the ground”, Ben Ner explains. “The sensors sit on the fruit or vegetable and measure the rate of change in the micron range. We calibrate this data with the ground, the amount of water, fertilizer, and the climate. In other words, we know how to talk with the plant \u2013 we know how it behaves and how to reacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n SupPlant has two products: one for large-scale farmers that is based on the installation of sensors in the area where the crops are grown. The sensors provide the best irrigation platform of its kind in the world, as they constantly adjust, supply weekly meteorological forecasts, and accordingly adapt the irrigation system based on the weather conditions, no matter how extreme it may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second product, that operates without sensors, is intended for small farmers who have less than 10 hectares of farming area and who constitute 98% of the world’s farmers. This development takes the entire database and insights gathered over time. It relates to specific data such as the type of soil the farmer is cultivating, connects to existing platforms and a cellphone, and provides each farmer with a simple and precise irrigation program. This product is intended primarily for orchard crops such as citrus fruit, grapes, avocado, mango, and nuts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n