AGENDA

Harnessing the Power of Agriculture 4.0

From the initial use of basic tools for producing crops, to the introduction of ag machinery, to development of more complex technology, agriculture has evolved through many phases over the centuries. But change is now accelerating at a pace that is almost hard to fathom. Agriculture 4.0 – the synthesis of the tools and systems that have come before with technology that is becoming reality now—is the next step. Building on the existing foundations of precision agriculture with data, IoT, AI, cloud platforms, robotics, quantum computing, and more, Ag 4.0 offers possibilities to drive even greater efficiencies and provide solutions for feeding a growing population in increasingly challenging conditions.

In this session that defines our direction for the next two days, we’ll take a brief look at where we’ve come from, and more importantly, where agriculture and technology are headed in the next 3-5 years.

Food insecurity and climate change are two of the biggest issues plaguing the global population.  New technologies like The Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Virtual Reality (VR) are quickly being introduced into the food ecosystem to tackle these problems. 2023 VISION Keynote Presenter Robin Raskin — veteran journalist, author, publisher, and event producer — is an advocate for integrating technology into lifestyle and a steadfast optimist that technology can help us tackle the planet’s greatest challenges.

In a digital universe you can entertain, educate, consume — and more importantly for you and your business — build a parallel world that lets you experiment and simulate every aspect of agriculture. During this fascinating Keynote presentation, Robin will share insights and brainstorm with the VISION audience on the potential, the possibilities, and the realities of the metaverse and its integration as an element of Agriculture 4.0.

Buckle up, we’re going for a wild metaverse ride

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Multiple platforms, digital twins, and other data modeling can help growers with plant health and yield using information for weather, climate, water, crop behavior, and soil.

Learn from our panel experts how virtual cropping can be used to optimize yields and promote sustainability for growers in different regions and climates.

Quantum computing, a theoretical possibility conceived in the 1980s, has become an intense technology endeavor with an investment of $35.5 billion worldwide as reported by the World Economic Forum in 2022. A growing number of companies have already made available quantum computing hardware via Cloud services, leading to increasing exposure of the greater public to the possibilities of the technology.

During this session we will perform an executive review of the quantum computing landscape, focusing on its potential to reshape agribusiness in several ways. We will explore the main differences between existing and quantum computing in terms of concepts, methods, and technologies to clearly define what constitutes a quantum advantage. Finally, we will discuss the types of problems where quantum computing is poised to achieve quantum advantage and what actions can be done now to build and ensure quantum readiness.

From satellites to aircraft to sensors, the quality and quantity of Earth Observation (EO) data is growing exponentially every year. But that just leads to the question we’ve been asking about all of this data for years: So what? The answer to that question is both the real problem — and the real opportunity — for agriculture.

In this session you will hear from leaders in imagery technology offering their insights on the true value proposition for users in each ag market segment. From very-high-resolution drone cameras and high-resolution satellite image change detection systems to radar satellite imagery and hyperspectral imagery, you’ll gain an insider’s perspective on the hurdles we still have to clear to fully utilize the massive potential of imaging data, and a look at the path we’ll be taking to get there.

The value of the autonomous farming sector is forecast to reach $95 billion by 2027. This promise of business growth is making for interesting partnerships and investment agreements.

Together, advancements in autonomous vehicles and robotics are positively impacting workforce constraints and improving safety while simultaneously gathering more in-field data and information that delivers critical insights to farmers. Seed-sowing robots and self-driving tractors ease the work burden on farmers, and the ability to apply the right crop inputs at the right place and right time is boosting both operations and costs efficiencies across the board. The next generation of autonomous farm equipment and robotics promises to be smarter, smaller, and less expensive.

Hear from an expert panel on how the drive towards innovation changing the agribusiness landscape on the road to providing improved productivity and efficiency on the farm.

You can’t drive forward by being fixated on the rearview mirror. With the constant evolution of innovation and new technology, growers and farmers are working with a complex set of hardware and software solutions that could possibly have millions of endpoints harnessing structured as well as unstructured data to help them make key decisions on their farms that can impact their bottom line. Having access to an enormous pool of data can be a blessing or a curse depending on the data architecture and roadmap to grow and maintain that data footprint based on needs of the business.

In this session, we’ll discuss the challenges and benefits of going from historic to predictive analytics and explore opportunities on how growers and farmers can take control of and manage data effectively and efficiently to get the quick results they need in order to make timely and accurate decisions.

Blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT) are among the advanced technologies that are supporting a hyperconnected, compliant and resilient food value chain from the farm gate to the consumer’s plate. From food, fuel and fiber to data and information, advanced technologies provide stakeholders with real-time visibility and analytics that lead to improved compliance, enhanced food safety and freshness, reduced costs, the ability to respond timely and accurately to food recalls, and better decision-making overall that benefits farmers, food manufacturers, grocery retailers, consumers and other stakeholders along the food value chain.

Find out how advanced technologies are expanding the realization of a hyperconnected food value chain and true farm-to-fork visibility for improved food safety, product quality, and tracking and tracing capabilities.

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As consumers continue to want to know about their food, personalize their diets and change their buying preferences, technology will play a vital role across the entire food system.  Whether using AI to attract consumers or dynamically price goods on the shelf or the metaverse’s potential to bring a new dimension to omnichannel, the impact on producers, consumers and everyone in between will be game-changing.

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers growers greater efficiency, from self-driving technology to a multitude of applications in the field from planting to postharvest. But in the unstructured environments of agriculture nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

In this session we’ll get insights from companies that are successfully integrating AI in ag, and share their perspectives on what’s working and what remains to be accomplished in incorporating this critical technology in nearly all aspects of Agriculture 4.0.

Cloud computing is critical to digital agriculture and for harnessing the power of Ag 4.0, drastically reducing IT infrastructure costs and assuring access to new software and software updates and enhancements. The affordability and improved security of cloud computing is making it even more attractive to not only larger enterprises, but small- and medium-sized companies and operations as well. At the same time, the proliferation of big data along with the desire to acquire fintech and ecommerce solutions makes cloud computing a necessity.

Learn how cloud computing technology is moving the agriculture industry beyond on-farm connectivity to data interoperability from the farmgate all the way to the end consumer.

With 90% of the earth’s topsoil at risk by 2050, the USDA Smart commodities fund has invested $2.8bn to reduce and measure climate impact. Globally there is a strong push for regenerative agriculture. While debate over carbon credits has gotten the lion’s share of attention, there’s much more to talk about with Climate Smart.

In this session, you’ll learn from experts and practitioners about how technology solution providers working with growers to aid the adoption of new farming practices; how producers can win in taking risks to try new climate-smart practices; the role retailers and consumers play to pull climate-smart products to market; and which innovations will help us adapt to and mitigate climate change in agriculture.

Large scale greenhouse operations have been a reality for decades. But the latest iterations of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) are blurring the lines between outdoor and indoor agriculture and taking food production to new levels of quality, resource management, technology integration — and investment. While not without its challenges, controlled-environment production offers efficiencies that can mitigate the demands of a changing climate and increasingly limited and costly resources. Just as important, food production can move closer to population centers virtually anywhere for true local production.

In this session you’ll gain deep insights on the outlook for CEA over the next 3-5 years from leaders in the industry. You’ll engage with CEA growers, both in the highly controlled greenhouse environment and the fully controlled vertical farming space. And you’ll hear from one of the leading investment firms focused on controlled-environment companies and technology and gain a better understanding of how CEA and the different elements of Ag 4.0 will work together.