Digitalization and internet use are transforming every aspect of our lives. Digital technologies are profoundly changing how we grow food, pack it, transport it and even shop for food. Digitalization and use of digital data, applications, and platforms are opening new possibilities for developing and restructuring the agrifood system. Digital agriculture is turning to digitalizing agrifood, rural economy, and rural societies. This report introduces the FAO Digital Village Initiative, which aims to facilitate through knowledge and information.
Many United Nations Entities are leveraging innovative approaches ranging from data, artificial intelligence, drones and the internet of things, to low-carbon technologies, climate smart agriculture and nature-based solutions to help people around the world mitigate and adapt to climate change. This compendium explores these innovative approaches leveraged in the following areas: AIR; ENERGY; FORESTS; LAND; WATER; FOOD SYSTEMS; CITIES & LIFESTYLES; GREEN ECONOMY; DISASTERS & CONFLICTS; CAPACITY STRENGTHENING; ADVOCACY.
Assessing or understanding the agriculture innovation system (AIS) is an essential step to better understand the needs, new skills and functions needed by the actors and the system. To accelerate the uptake of innovation and progress towards eradicating poverty, there is an urgent need for well-coordinated, demand-driven, and market-oriented information, knowledge, technologies and services.
Agricultural Internet of Things (IoT) has brought new changes to agricultural production. It not only increases agricultural output but can also effectively improve the quality of agricultural products, reduce labor costs, increase farmers' income, and truly realize agricultural modernization and intelligence. This paper systematically summarizes the research status of agricultural IoT. Firstly, the current situation of agricultural IoT is illustrated and its system architecture is summarized. Then, the five key technologies of agricultural IoT are discussed in detail.
Droughts are causing severe damages to tropical countries worldwide. Although water abundant, their resilience to water shortages during dry periods is often low. As there is little knowledge about tropical drought characteristics, reliable methodologies to evaluate drought risk in data scarce tropical regions are needed.
The need to urgently transition food systems to net-zero, nature-positive that can nourish all people, leaving no one behind is more critical than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has furthered deepened complex challenges we already face from hunger and nutrition, climate and nature, and societal inequity. Innovation offers a profound opportunity to achieve these transitions and help unlock challenges across food systems.
Facilitation has proved crucial for enabling the interaction of Agricultural Innovation System (AIS) actors to address the target and to innovate. This “Guide on training of facilitators of multi-actor agricultural innovation platform” is aimed at serving facilitators when multi-actor agricultural innovation platforms (MAIPs) are organized. Since MAIPs are still an emerging concept, there are not many cases to refer to.
Digitization in agriculture is rapidly advancing further on. New technologies and solutions were developed and get invented which ease farmers’ daily life, help them and their partners to gain knowledge about farming processes and environmental interrelations. This knowledge leads to better decisions and contributes to increased farm productivity, resource efficiency, and environmental health. Along with numerous advantages, some negative aspects and dependencies risk seamless workflow of agricultural production.
This article extends social science research on big data and data platforms through a focus on agriculture, which has received relatively less attention than other sectors like health. In this paper, I use a responsible innovation framework to move attention to the social and ethical dimensions of big data “upstream,” to decision-making in the very selection of agricultural data and the building of its infrastructures.
The Date Palm Innovation Platform is a collaborative work is a platform for research, technology and innovation for the integrated production system of the Date Palm. The platform has been developed by the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).