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AgroTech. AI, Big data, IoT
At present, agricultural economics has to solve the complex and responsible task of provision of food security. The problem with the achievement of this task is that the innovative business trends of recent years were concentrated in other spheres of the economy and were only indirectly connected to the agricultural economy. Thus, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, financial innovations were actively created and implemented in the post-industrial (service) economy. After the global financial and economic crisis, the industry received a new impulse for development in the second decade of the twenty-first century. Neo-industrialisation—a new cycle of industrialisation, which implies the development of high-tech industry—took place.
The COVID-19 pandemic and crisis became a crucial moment of the modern age of the world economy’s development since they started a global tendency for the diversification of the economy. Despite the undoubted destructive impact on humanity, the pandemic sent an important signal: all spheres of the economy are important and need to be developed. It became possible to implement the idea of economic diversification due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The transition to a new—digital—technological mode created preconditions for the modernisation of all spheres of economy. In the agricultural economy, this led to the emergence of AgroTech, which uniqueness and high theoretical and practical significance consist in its disseminating sustainable digital innovations.
AgroTech is not just high-tech agriculture—it is a new model of agriculture under the conditions of the digital economy based on the leading technologies—Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT). The specifics of this new model consist in the fact that agribusiness in AgroTech is based on the innovative production factors and innovative organisational and managerial solutions on the use of these factors in the production and distribution processes.
In the aspect of labour, AgroTech requires digital agricultural personnel. On the one hand, this requires serious retraining of the current agricultural personnel and causes a serious burden on the system of professional and higher education. On the other hand, this ensures the creation of highly efficient, knowledge-intensive and well-paid jobs in the agricultural economy. The value of human resources in agri-culture grows in the course of the development of AgroTech, and wider perspectives for their human potential development open.
In the aspect of the land, AgroTech does not have a clear binding to land. There is a transition from horizontal to vertical farms and from soil to hydroponics. The transition to AgroTech allows (for the first time) reducing the role of land as a production factor in agriculture—it gradually moves to the background, giving way to technology, which becomes most significant. In the aspect of capital (technolo-gies), AgroTech is connected to the use of automatized and robotised agricultural machinery. The core of agribusiness in AgroTech is the IoT—a leading technology, which allows for continuous communication between technical devices.
In the aspect of entrepreneurial abilities and management in AgroTech, AI performs the automatized control of smart farms. AgroTech is a path to machine management of agribusiness. AI allows conducting automatized phytomonitoring— control of growth of each plant, collecting and analysing Big Data. This is a path to predictable agriculture with stable productivity.
The importance of studying and managing the development of AgroTech is explained by its ensuring the successful practical implementation of all main Sustain-able Development Goals (SDGs), which are set before the modern agricultural economy. First, SDG 2 and SDG 3: AgroTech allows achieving the maximum possible quality of food and guaranteeing it. Due to the automatized phytomoni-toring based on AI, Big Data and the IoT, selective quality control becomes total. The sorting of food by the criterion of quality is accelerated and simplified.
Added value chains become more transparent in the agricultural economy. Their control becomes accessible not only for government controlling bodies but also for all interested parties. In addition, the establishment of AgroTech allows for the production of food with the set and improved nutritional properties. Random (risk) component in agriculture is reduced. Labour efficiency receives new possibilities for growth, which allows the global fight against hunger.
Second, SDGs 6-8: AgroTech is a breakthrough in water supply, energetics and production organisation. Irrigation has always been a foundation stone of agriculture. One of the most important problems of irrigation is the deficit of water resources in dry territories. AgroTech allows optimising the collection, storing and spending of water resources in case of their deficit, as well as performing a precise dosed supply to each plant.
AgroTech is also “clean” energetics in agriculture. An increasing number of smart farms around the world start using renewable energy sources: sun, water and wind. It should also be noted that human resources management in AgroTech becomes more responsible due to the automatized production process. The transition from hard manual labour to intellectual activity makes high-tech agribusiness attractive for employment and career-building by young agricultural personnel.
Third, SDG 10 and SDG 11: AgroTech is a source of economic growth and development of rural territories. It is worth noting that though smart agriculture is also accessible in cities, rural territories remain the centres of the agricultural economy. Not only does AgroTech accelerate the economic growth of rural territories, but it also strengthens their competitive advantages as environmental spaces for living, work, tourism, and business. Well-balanced development of urban and rural territories is a new reality, which is accessible due to AgroTech. Of course, it is necessary to note the inflow of investments in the development of rural territories. Agribusiness ceases to be very risky and unprofitable; instead, it quickly develops and brings large profits.
Fourth, SDG 13: AgroTech is a leading method of agriculture’s adaptation to climate change. Though the fight against climate change is conducted around the world, this problem is still very urgent as of now; it probably will not be completely solved in the next decade (though, of course, substantial progress in its resolution could be expected). The agricultural economy is a sphere of the economy that suffers the most from climate change.
Climate-smart agriculture in AgroTech is a perspective answer of the agricul-tural economy to climate change. Smart farms feature the internal artificial climate, which is supported all year round. This makes them autonomous (independent from the external environment). The key advantages of AgroTech in this respect are the increased and multiple crop yield, as well as prevention of the ruin of the plants caused by unfavourable weather conditions.
The transition from horizontal farms to vertical farms also allows leaving natural territories untouched. This contributes to the preservation of biodiversity (SDGs 14– 15). In addition to the above, AgroTech in itself is a manifestation of the successful practical implementation of SDG 9 in the agricultural economy. Other SDGs are also supported in AgroTech, which ensures its systemic contribution to sustainable development.
This book’s objective is the comprehensive study of AgroTech, formation of a coherent scientific view, provision of scientific and methodological support, and preparation of applied solutions for the development of AgroTech. This objective is consistently achieved in the four parts of the book. The first part forms a scientific concept of AgroTech as a new model of agriculture under the conditions of the digital economy based on AI, Big Data and IoT. The second part contains the study and analysis of the case experience of the formation and development of AgroTech in Russia and its regions. The third part elaborates on the current problems of agriculture and the perspectives of their resolution based on AgroTech. The fourth part contains applied recommendations and frameworks for the development of AgroTech.
The originality and novelty of this book consist in the reconsideration of the scientific concept of AgroTech through the lens of sustainable development, which allows balancing high-technology and socio-environmental responsibility of the agricultural economy. The book’s uniqueness consists in the in-depth multidisci-plinary study of AgroTech: from the positions of economics (agribusiness), informa-tion and communication technologies (high technologies for agriculture), manage-ment, human support (pedagogics), agroecology, environmental economics and other scientific disciplines.
This book is aimed primarily at scholars who study AgroTech. In this book, they will find a coherent theoretical view of AgroTech as a multidisciplinary scientific concept and the fundamental view of the perspective of the agricultural economy’s sustainable development based on AgroTech. This book could be also interesting for the representatives of agribusiness and state regulators of the agricultural economy. Due to the in-depth elaboration of the given topical area, the book is a practical guide for agriculture’s transitioning to AgroTech. The applied recommendations and frameworks of the development of AgroTech, which are proposed in the book, will be useful in practice.
