What will the farm of the future look like in Ireland?
Will it be dominated by advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics?
Or could the agri-food co-operatives sector in Ireland run the risk of being left behind in the current process of digitalization?
According to the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) the skills of human beings must be “integrally integrated” into any technologically and digitally-enabled future agri-food sector.
ICOS president Edward Carr said: “The agri-food co-operative sector must participate, join this trend, and support the creation of a society which is aware and committed to the problems it faces, avoiding becoming a sector that remains a trace of the technological past.”
This is one of the key reasons why ICOS was one eight partners from seven countries which included Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Spain that have been involved in a project aimed at “analyzing the emerging employment opportunities offered by the digital innovation”.
The LeadFarm project focused on developing a “competency framework and roadmap” for Irish agri- food co-operatives to transition the skills of their people towards ‘Society 5.0’ or what has been termed the super-intelligent society.
During the final conference of the LeadFarm 5.0 project held in Maynooth, Co. Kildare last week Carr said: “ICOS is the lead partner in this project. This is with the specific aim to support various stakeholders including co-operatives, social enterprises, boards of directors, farmers, trainers, and educators, with a particular focus on those at risk of exclusion such as youth and women.
“The concept is about ensuring the long-term sustainability of the industry through skill and talent development.
“We are focused on creating a more digitally aware society that will be human-centred and will take advantage of technology to tackle problems that affect the whole of society as well as our own industry”.
Farm of the future
Separately according to the chair of Ag Tech Ireland, Padraig Hennessy and chief commercial officer of TERRA Nutritech (TNT), Martin O’Donnell, AI in the short-term is unlikely to be a major focus for Irish farmers.
Hennessy believes the current benefits of AI in farming are minimal, indicating that “it’s still in its infancy”.
“The real benefits coming is when we will see farmers integrating various systems together.
“AI isn’t going to milk your cows for you, but what it is going to do is help you to understand what cows should be milked. I think the issue at the moment for all farmers is there’s enormous amounts of information coming at them, all at once.
“So for it to work you will need something that will break it up into the most important parts,” he said.
But AI’s ability to provide targeted data analysis can help farmers manage their livestock more effectively, according to O’Donnell.
“A farmer shouldn’t have to look at the data on every single one of his cows in order to figure out which ones are the ones he should really be focusing on.
“He just needs to look at the right cows – the ones that are performing really well, or really poorly, and why?
“That’s where AI can actually help an awful lot,” he said.
This could ensure that conditions such as rumination issues or mineral deficiencies are promptly addressed.
AI
Meanwhile O’Donnell is predicting a gradual and almost seamless integration over time.
“It’s barely even on the farmers radar at the moment. It will happen and the farmers won’t even really have much of an idea that it is happening.”
He envisions a future where AI plays a crucial role in analysing and addressing agricultural issues.
“It would be beneficial if eventually AI could use the data to analyse the areas of concern or issues within a crop or animal but we are not there yet,” he said.
One trend that Hennessy has also acknowledged the demographic challenge of an aging farmer population.
“I don’t think there’s going to be mass AI adoption in the next 12 months or 24 months. It’s it’s going to be a bit of a longer cycle than that.
“Unfortunately, the average age of dairy farmers is in their late 50s now at this stage.
“Getting farmers who are not technologically savvy, adopting AI, that’s a scary process for them and there needs to be a lot of education around that too,” he said.