Session Synopsis

The world's growing population, changing climate, and shrinking agricultural land pose immense challenges for meeting global food security needs. Crop yields must increase dramatically on existing farmland to feed up to 10 billion people by 2050. Precision agriculture aims to optimize crop production and minimize
environmental impact by using technologies like sensors, robotics, and data analytics. In this framework, emerging areas are:

  • Developments of lab-on-a-chip devices for quick and accurate plant pathogen detection. Indeed, the deterioration of plant products, which is estimated to cause a loss of between 10 and 30 percent overall, is one of the main constraints on food resources. Since one of the major reasons for this deterioration is the presence of pathogens and their associated toxic metabolites and parasites, food safety is an issue to be considered.
  • Reduction of waste and environmental contamination. Indeed, agriculture must reduce its massive environmental impacts which include 20% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of freshwater withdrawals. Precision agriculture addresses these issues by using data collected from specialized sensors to tailor the application of water, fertilizers, and pesticides to specific localized needs. Therefore, in contrast to uniform treatment of large areas, this targeted approach allows more efficient resource application.
  • Development of wireless sensor networks for efficient data processing and transmission. These networks provide detailed spatiotemporal data at high resolution, facilitating a deeper understanding of the agricultural landscape. The real-time information they offer enables rapid decision-making, reducing the need for labor-intensive field monitoring. 

This session focuses on the most suitable Key Enabling Technologies (KET) that can allow a profitable advance in productivity, sustainability, ecological and digital transition in the agricultural sector. Therefore, the main topics covered by this session are:

  • sensors for detection of plant pathogens and their harmful metabolic products in food, as well as plant parasites;
  • lab-on-chip devices and microfluidics for in-field analysis;
  • sensors and actuators for controlled irrigation and pesticide treatments in agriculture;
  • sensor networks for smart data-driven agriculture.

  • The world's growing population, changing climate, and shrinking agricultural land pose immense challenges for meeting global food security needs. Crop yields must increase dramatically on existing farmland to feed up to 10 billion people by 2050. Precision agriculture aims to optimize crop production and minimize environmental impact by using technologies like sensors, robotics, and data analytics.