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IOT powering the digital economy
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brought to you by Schneider Electric
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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farming is the hand that feeds us but as
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an industry agriculture is something we
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often take for granted the land is
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plowed the crops are grown in the
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livestock raised put pressures on
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farmers to feed our booming population
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are increasing by 2050 it's estimated
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they'll be over nine and a half billion
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of us and that's a lot of mouths to feed
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farming has long been considered a risky
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investment with tight profit margins and
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often unpredictable yields but it's a
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sector with enormous potential according
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to the World Bank Group it accounts for
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about a third of global GDP and by 2050
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it's thought that productivity and
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agriculture will need to rise by 70%
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just to keep up with demand in their
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efforts to meet rising demand food
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producers are now turning to digital
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innovations to increase their yield and
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farming efficiency agricultural
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technology or Agrotech is thriving and
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attracting investment like never before
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digitization along the entire value
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chain is seeing tech companies forge new
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relationships with agricultural business
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with even digital heavyweights like
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Google and Amazon starting to begin so
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how is farming changing in the face of
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the digital revolution and what business
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opportunities and challenges lie
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in this program I'll be looking at the
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companies that are tackling the problems
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of 21st century farming head-on with the
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use of new digital tools and innovations
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I'll be finding out how one of our
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oldest industries is overcoming its
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newest challenges and asking experts in
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agricultural technology about the
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obstacles we face on the road to the
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farms of the future
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it's hard to talk about the agriculture
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business without mentioning Monsanto the
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notorious farming giant and the world's
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biggest supplier of seeds with around a
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quarter of global sales however as the
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use of Agrotech grows traditional
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farming companies like Monsanto are
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vying for a share in the market in 2013
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Monsanto acquired the climate
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corporation a company specializing in
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digital farming the cost of the takeover
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close to a billion dollars I've come to
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the head offices of climate Corp in San
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Francisco to find out why the company is
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proving such a front-runner in the race
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to digitize farming Mike Stern a CEO of
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climate and vice-president of America's
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row crops at Monsanto he's also the man
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behind more than 50 scientific
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publications and US patents related to
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agriculture technology one of climates
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key products is field view an online
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platform that gathers and analyzes data
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to predict weather and field health
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providing farmers with a wide range of
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digital tools to help maximize their
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yields here are all my fields they're
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all organized it's a digital notebook
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and it's telling us about ok how much
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rain fell on my farm in the last 24
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hours
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season to date and how does that compare
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to the 10 year average and then if they
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want to dig into more detail on a field
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by field basis they can go specifically
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to a field this look like a satellite
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map of the field this is actually a
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yield map this is called split view and
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they can begin to see that that this is
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a soil map that actually is talk is
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helping understand what this variability
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is red our areas of the field that are
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not doing too well and green are areas
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of the field where the yields were much
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higher and so within the app now for the
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first time a grower can begin to
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understand well what might be causing
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this variability field view is a digital
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AG platform that really provides three
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benefits to growers one it helps them
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digitize their fields and allows them to
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organize their data
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around their fields and begin to do
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analytics and cause and effect analysis
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it's a conduit for us to be able to give
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recommendations based on our investment
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in data science to help growers making
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more informed decisions about how to
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manage their crops and it's also a
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conduit for growers to go and connect
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with other innovators on our platform
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that allows them to access other digital
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AG tools to bring innovation to their
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farm
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what about any b2b collaborations and
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benefits to other businesses or other
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companies getting on board with the
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system and are there any examples you
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can share absolutely you know we have
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established field view as a platform so
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we've opened up our infrastructure to
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allow other companies to develop
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technology and bring technology to
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growers through field view and we have
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about 30 partners right now so let me
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give you an example one of our first
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platform partners is a company called
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varus and varus makes very sophisticated
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soil sampling in equipment that gets
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taken across the field and it does a
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meter by meter assessment of some
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critical soil components now by itself
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that's important for a grower but what a
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grower really wants is to have that soil
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layer in the context of everything else
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that they're doing on their field so
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it's not so now we have a soil layer
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that's in context of hey this is the
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corn hybrid that I might have planted
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this is the density I planted this is
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the weather on the field this is how
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nutrients have been applied to that
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field it's a very symbiotic relationship
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and with population growing so rapidly
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and the world's agriculture needs
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growing how does this help how is
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efficiency important well if you project
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out into the future in 2050 there's
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going to be 10 billion
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folks on the planet so another 3 billion
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then from where we are today and we're
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gonna have to figure out how to produce
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more food on less land with fewer
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Natural Resources with a changing
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climate and that's a challenge and we're
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going to need all sorts of technology
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it's not going to be one technology
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that's going to help us solve these
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problems we've seen these
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types of step changes in technology
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before whether it was the mechanization
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of the farm in the late 1800s or the
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Green Revolution where breeding and
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understanding about fertility helped
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improve yields and wheat and I think
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digital agriculture is going to be this
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next wave of innovation that will be
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able to apply to these problems helping
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farmers adapt to the changing climate
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will surely have a positive impact on
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global productivity however another
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major problem facing today's farmer is
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the shortage of seasonal labor many
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farms are losing money because they
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simply can't find the workers to pick
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their produce
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[Music]
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the Oxford plan in Southern California
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is famous for strawberry production
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about 1/3 of the state strawberries are
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grown and picked here the harvesting of
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soft fruits has always been a delicate
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time-consuming operation traditionally
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farmers have relied on hand picking by
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migrant workers but times are changing
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and as worker numbers fall fruit growers
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in particular are searching for new
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methods to gather their precious crops
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say hello to the AG robot one of the
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world's first strawberry picking robots
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designed from the ground up to gather
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this especially fragile fruit it uses a
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sophisticated set of sensors to scan and
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delicately harvest the strawberries and
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it's the brainchild of a grobotz founder
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and CEO one problem Juan was previously
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head of production at Spanish
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engineering and construction company
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hook-up but has been refining and
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developing the AG robot since 2010 so
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Juan you've developed this AG robot to
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pick strawberries tell us a little bit
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about how it works and what it does we
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have 24-hour body cams
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each one is fully independent from the
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other each one have a camera this
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assistant
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but this is Connie for registration when
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we find a ripe is already we grab by the
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stem and we live in a container if we
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compare the the peak inside of the
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harvester we need about 1.2 human
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harvesters for cleaning one acre with
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one harvester we can harvest about 20
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acres three days so how how is the
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Machine controlled do you ride on it or
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is it just a screen to push buttons on
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so everything is fully autonomous we
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just select and press the star button
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the harvester owner about the camera
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starves the height cell guidance system
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will guide the harvester when the
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harvester are run and reach the end of
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the other rows it will stop by itself
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and will send the information to the
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human we can control with a screen on
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the
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harvest day we can control with our
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phone or with her remote controller so
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what kind of interest have you seen in
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the product who's investing well rayna's
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Menma star growing companies they need a
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solution because in the next following
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years the shortage of labour for this
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kind of jobs is gonna get harder and
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harder even the people that currently is
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harvesting the strawberries are getting
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older so they they are investing in this
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kind of technology because they need a
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solution to keep growing strawberries
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the main business investor in the
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Agrabah is the International berry
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growing company Driscoll's I asked John
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Arab their VP of social and
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environmental impact about the benefits
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of Agrotech investment and what kind of
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problems that can solve what it solves
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is really trying to take some of the
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kind of non-value-added type movements
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that are difficult and things that
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people really don't want to do and
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automating those aspects we really want
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to try to create you know the type of
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opportunities for the workforce to focus
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on you know the things that require
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higher intelligence and things that's
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you know aren't necessarily just
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repetitive in nature and that really
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kind of where people out and that type
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of thing and what do you say to farmers
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or people who might be concerned that
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technology and robots are taking jobs
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away well really it's creating job
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opportunities one of the biggest
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challenges that we have is that there's
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really not youth coming into the farming
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industry and so with the technological
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advancements there's a lot of
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opportunities that really are attracted
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to the youth and can also kind of tap
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just the acumen that the kids have today
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they grow up with the technology etc and
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so it's it's exciting to create those
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type of opportunities how important is
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increasing the use of digital technology
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to driscoll's and to the agriculture
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industry well increasing the use of
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digital technologies is super important
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not just in terms of automating the
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harvest but there's other applications
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as well for example using visual
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technology to assess how much of the
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crop is coming in
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as well as what's the state of the crop
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and so you can detect where there's hot
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spots in the field where there may be
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some insect pressure or the plants
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aren't as vigorous and those types of
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things and so the visual technology can
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unlock all kinds of opportunities
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developments in Agrotech are gathering
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pace and farmers are already reaping the
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benefits but with mounting pressures on
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food production
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what other innovations are needed join
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me after the break when I'll be asking
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an expert in Agrotech about the cutting
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edge developments in the industry modern
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farming is more and more reliant on
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digital technology to keep up with
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global demand disruptors and adapters
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alike are staking their claim in the
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farms of the future and in the process
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pushing forward the frontiers of new
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technology Harper Adams University in
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Shropshire UK is a world leader in
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agricultural technology and digital
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research part think-tank part farm part
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laboratory it's a center of excellence
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in the sector one of its recent flagship
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projects is a hands-free hectare a field
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of barley plant intended and harvested
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entirely by unmanned machinery Simon
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Blackmore is professor of robotic
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agriculture at Harper Adams University a
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member of the American Society of
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agricultural and biological engineers
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and a fellow of the institution of
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agricultural engineers his research has
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been breaking new ground in digital
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farming Simon believes we need to
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entirely rethink our approach to farming
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in the 21st century there's a lot of
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pressures on crop production around the
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world at the moment obviously we've got
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a an increasing population that we need
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to feed but there's also environmental
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pressures and the current system that
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we've got for crop production uses a lot
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more energy than we need and that energy
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comes in all different forms from
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fertiliser pesticide tractors diesel and
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so on so be able to meet society's
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requirements for these things we need a
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new production system and that new
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production system needs to have new set
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of tools to allow us to do what we want
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the farmers to do the opportunity that I
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see is to come up with a complete new
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mechanization system that moves away
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from an industrial type model which is
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where we are at the moment which is like
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a big production line doing the same
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thing everywhere trying to increase just
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increase the yields the whole time into
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a much more flexible there I say
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manufacturing system my industry has
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done but the farmers don't have
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currently have the tools to do it our
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industry has moved over to flexible
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manufacturing I think farmers should
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move over to flexible manufacturing but
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we need the small smart machines to be
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able to do that one of Harper Adams
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latest experiments a new smart machinery
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is project Morman a remotely controlled
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tractor designed for precision crop
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spraying this type of machine is what I
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think to be about the right size for
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agricultural robots when we get to the
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tractor big tractors they are too heavy
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they sink into the ground if we make
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them much smaller we have a problem with
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what's called the energy density problem
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how much power can you get into a
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battery or a small engine but this is
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about the right size to deal with
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agricultural conditions when a normal
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tractor would sync up to its axles this
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machine can go out and not do any damage
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to the soil it's better to carry out the
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operations and not to compact the soil
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in any way agriculture is an ancient
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industry and the backbone of our society
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but if it's to withstand the pressures
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of the 21st century then investment in
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digital technology is key in recent
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years capital has started flowing to the
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sector well where is a river of
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investment going there is a lot of
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interest from the commercial sector now
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and the investment and governments
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around the world to make use of these
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technologies
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the interesting thing really is that
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it's very disruptive and a lot of the
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big machinery manufacturers are not
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investing in this area because it's too
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disruptive to their very linear business
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model that they've had for the last 50
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60 years so the opportunity is really
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coming through startup companies so
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we're working with a number of startup
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companies now
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who have no legacy in terms of what has
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gone on before but we're only interested
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in coming up with the right machines to
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meet today's requirements so the stage
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really is where we've got a lot of in
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some respects crazy ideas new ideas new
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ways of thinking we're not totally sure
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which ones are going to pan out which
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ones are going to be the most successful
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but we're evaluating those ones and
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we're seeing a lot more private
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investment coming into this area now to
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bridge the gap era gloomier is the food
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and beverage solution Marketing Director
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at Schneider Electric Schneider are one
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of the more established players who are
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partnering with other businesses to
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explore the potential of digital farming
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I think the main word that he's done at
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the present time in Agrotech is
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developing new capabilities to to get
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information about the field about the
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culture and about the environment of the
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fields max Ehrmann is now something
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which is really efficient and we can
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control the different equipment in the
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field based on the productivity the
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yield of each part of the process I see
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new opportunities with the usage for
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example of artificial intelligence
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we are working with P digital a small
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company in Italy they have applied the
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artificial intelligence on the
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agricultural data so they use drones
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with high-resolution camera in order to
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add a map of the fields and with
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artificial intelligence they are able to
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detect the presence of bugs in the field
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and from this the farmer can have manual
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removal of the other perks of a local
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treatment of the parcel which is
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contaminated
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heavy investment in automation robotics
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and new sources of data are all helping
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to make farms more productive and less
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harmful to the environment than ever
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before but is it enough for farming to
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meet the needs of our growing population
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join me after the break when I'll be
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finding out what new innovations are in
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store agriculture is in the throes of a
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digital revolution helping millions of
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the world's farmers reduce their
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environmental impact improve efficiency
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and drive up yields but this revolution
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is only just beginning so what does the
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future hold when you visualize the farm
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of the future what are some of the
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things you see how is it different well
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for one it's it's optimizing air and
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lights how do we make the plants as
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happy as they can be basically and
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they're going to give you the best
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result possible but also make it
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accessible for people to harvest big
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juicy fruit that's easily accessible
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it's not hidden under the leaves we want
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to be able to harvest you know every
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berry and not leave anything behind
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which in today's environment that's not
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possible there's probably about 30
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percent
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you know waste in the system today
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that's not all happening on farm that's
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also within the supply chain but
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basically it's maximizing errant light
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harvesting 100% of the berries and
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really setting up the plants to be as
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happy as possible so that they produce
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the best crop but how does that change
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what needs to be done for that to happen
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for example on watering let's just take
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that for example well natural resources
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are obviously scarce and often times
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finite one of the exciting things that
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more precise farming practices and
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innovation unlocks is the better
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stewardship of water and so we're seeing
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that in some of these advanced
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production techniques that we're
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implementing that we're using up to you
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know half the water that we have
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otherwise because we're giving little
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small shots of water exactly when the
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plants need it we actually have scales
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in the field in in these in the
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container production in the tabletop
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production that you see here will have
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scales in the field that are weighing
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the plants and they can tell you know
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how much water or evapotranspiration is
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happening
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how much water needs to be put back to
00:20:19
the plant and then that automatically
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triggers the irrigation and so we might
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have 30 to 40 irrigations in one day but
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it's it's only very very small amounts
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and exactly what the plant needs for
00:20:32
professor Simon Blackmore of Harper
00:20:34
Adams University the future lies in our
00:20:36
mastery of new smart machinery as an
00:20:40
agriculture engineer I'm looking at
00:20:42
agriculture from the machinery point of
00:20:46
view and I believe with the
00:20:48
opportunities that we got in this new
00:20:49
technology we're going to get a new
00:20:51
revolution in agriculture in crop
00:20:53
production that is going to take
00:20:55
advantage of these technologies we will
00:20:58
need new skills to do it
00:20:59
we'll have to have better understanding
00:21:01
of the technologies I still think it's
00:21:05
going to be people making decisions but
00:21:08
it will certainly be supported by
00:21:10
information intensive data by artificial
00:21:15
intelligence by decision support systems
00:21:17
but effectively it comes down to people
00:21:21
in the end but we will have a new set of
00:21:24
tools that farmers have never had before
00:21:26
to allow those decisions to be
00:21:29
implemented in the field there's still a
00:21:31
person in control of it in charge of it
00:21:33
out behind me I could have a tractor
00:21:36
that is then running but I am in control
00:21:38
of it because I've got a smartphone now
00:21:40
and there is a heartbeat going backwards
00:21:42
and forwards between my smartphone and
00:21:44
the tractor but it may not be sitting on
00:21:47
the tractor anymore but 10d within close
00:21:50
proximity to the tractor for Mike's turn
00:21:54
of climate Corp it's the gathering and
00:21:56
interpreting of data on farms that could
00:21:58
bring the biggest change farm of the
00:22:00
future I think could be very very
00:22:02
different than the farm of today so
00:22:04
there's no doubt that there will be more
00:22:06
automation on the farm there will be
00:22:08
many many more sensors measuring all
00:22:11
sorts of different elements of how to
00:22:13
manage a crop on a farm there'll be
00:22:16
integrated solutions where all sorts of
00:22:19
different inputs will be brought
00:22:20
together in an operating plan to
00:22:23
optimize productivity around the field
00:22:25
we think there's tremendous opportunity
00:22:27
to bring value to growers with the
00:22:30
digital tools so we're in heaven we're
00:22:31
investing heavily in in fundamental
00:22:34
science here I have no doubt that these
00:22:36
technologies are fundamentally going to
00:22:38
change the way that we use our natural
00:22:40
resources to produce food and even today
00:22:44
I am sure we can't even articulate where
00:22:46
these technologies will end up 10 years
00:22:48
from now what would you say to the
00:22:51
farmer who hears this and then is
00:22:53
concerned that there will be no more
00:22:54
room in the farm of the future for for
00:22:57
the human worker I think I think local
00:23:00
knowledge and in the historic knowledge
00:23:02
that farmers have around their field is
00:23:04
always going to be important and these
00:23:07
are very very complicated problems and
00:23:09
even today we see as we're rolling out
00:23:11
our digital tools our farmer customers
00:23:14
are typically working with their trusted
00:23:16
adviser with this information whether
00:23:19
that be an Ag retailer or a seed seller
00:23:21
an agronomist a consultant on their farm
00:23:24
so I think that local knowledge and the
00:23:28
knowledge and the passion that the
00:23:30
farmer has about their land and their
00:23:32
field is always going to be an important
00:23:34
component in the development of new
00:23:35
technology including these digital tools
00:23:41
for centuries agriculture has been the
00:23:44
dependable friend of progress supplying
00:23:46
our growing population with food and
00:23:48
drink but as environmental and economic
00:23:50
pressures on farming mount the time is
00:23:53
ripe for progress to give something back
00:23:55
global investment in Agra Tech is having
00:23:58
a massive impact on the secretary
00:24:00
automation and data-driven farming are
00:24:02
helping food producers increase their
00:24:04
yields and efficiencies farming methods
00:24:07
as we know them are fundamentally
00:24:09
changing promising a healthier more
00:24:11
sustainable future for us all
00:24:14
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