Given the scale of the world’s food supply, there aren’t many industries that lend themselves to the power of data science and analytics than agriculture.
This is the thinking behind a new research paper from a group of data scientists who make a case for finding new ways to use blockchain, AI and API management to enable “smart agriculture.
” The paper, “Agricultural Digital Transformation,” has been published in the OR/MS Today journal from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
In short, the challenge is that the United Nations has forecast that the world population of 7.
6 billion will reach 9.
8 billion in 2050 and 11.
2 billion in 2100.
Rapid population growth, coupled with a severe reduction in global food production – due to climate change, environmental pollution, urbanization, as well as changing consumer behavior, demands and market integration – have made food shortages and food security the biggest agricultural challenges today.
This will require new ways to maximize existing resources and land to provide for a growing population.
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display(div-gpt-ad-1439400881943-0); }); The authors of the study say new approaches and new models of innovation and collaboration will increase operational efficiencies on manufacturing shop floors, improve operations excellence in supply chains and services, and enhance brand and customer value.
“Transforming the agricultural industry with an intelligent integration of the technological ABCDEs would create abundant opportunities to address key issues, including food shortage, product safety and security, pricing management, agricultural ecosystem and power-player landscape modeling, fair returns on investment for farmers, and most importantly, consumer trust and well-being.
” Contributed by Daniel D.
Gutierrez, Managing Editor and Resident Data Scientist for insideBIGDATA.
In addition to being a tech journalist, Daniel also is a consultant in data scientist, author, educator and sits on a number of advisory boards for various start-up companies.
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