Agriculture is a crucial element in everyone's day-to-day lives. Agriculture provides food, clothing, beverages, timber, medicine and other fundamental products, yet very few people have an interest or passion for the industry.
Many people see agriculture as solely farming or as a “poor person’s job”, which is an understandable statement given that up to 90% of farmers live in poverty. Even in developed countries, farmers struggle with the continual ‘cost price squeeze’; a resulting pressure for farmers to produce food as cheaply as possible to remain competitive in the market yet also cover costs and support their families.
Striving for an endless supply of food has multifaceted challenges, but we believe these challenges stem from a disconnect between producers and buyers. This disconnect creates a lack of awareness regarding agriculture, which only perpetuates misconceptions about the industry and a lack of interest in seeking a career in farming.
It can be hard to see how this industry can provide income security, especially when income can occur once a year for annual crops. Agriculture’s susceptibility to severe weather events, which are only being enhanced by climate change, further discourages any engagement with the industry.
However, farming can be profitable. In today's age, you can be innovative and introduce an abundance of technology into the farming system. Technology ranges from anything to do with drones to fertilise your crop and tractors embedded with precision agriculture techniques, to sensors and IoT systems that automate your irrigation system.
All this technology is amazing and one of the many ways Aggie Global can address food security on a global level, whilst encouraging sustainable agricultural production.
By adapting this technology for smallholder farmers in developing countries, we can boost both productivity, profitability and community engagement within agriculture.
