Last Friday 15th May 2021, Tech 4.0 launched the first day of its Controlled Environment Agriculture 4.0 E-Conference. The event offered a rich program, with a wide diversity of actors and topics.
This edition delved into the core topics of growing techniques, capital expenditure (Capex), standardisation & interoperability, sustainability, planning and design, policy, … and more !
FarmTech Society is an event partner—we got some insights from the discussions to share with you!
Struggling with profitability? With pest management? Or still hesitating between, say, hydroponics and aeroponics? Some of the most common questions asked by newcomers were answered by industry leaders, researchers and advocates.
Some of the most successful CEA initiatives and actors were presented, along with funding opportunities for the sector, which keeps growing around the world. Notably Caroline Povey, from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, introduced the UK’s new funding program for agri-food R&D, stretching up to 2024, with the goal of facilitating the transition to a post-EU agricultural policy. And CEA farmers have already benefited from the program!
In 2019, Singapore managed to locally produce and supply 14% of leafy vegetables – a production of 12,689 tons with around 101 hectares. Today the city has around 400 local farms, 29 of which are CEA units.
Technology’s role and potential was illustrated by Jim Thorpe (CTO at Cultinova), who showcased how digital systems can overcome many issues faced by CEA to bolster its profitability and resilience. Cultinova’s digital CEA model is a great example of Industry 4.0, whereby data on food crops are collected and analyzed through machine learning and cloud models. The data platform interface allows CEA farm managers to then quickly understand and apply the data towards optimizing the growing methods.
Before the closure of Day 1, Caroline Drummond (CEO at LEAF) emphasized the importance of enabling legislations and tackled the question of a potential Greenhouse tax, which would impose an extra cost on Greenhouse-based food production systems. This regulation would compromise current R&D within CEA, a crucial activity for a niche sector still lacking best-practice standards and working knowledge for rightly scaling up. It could lead to unintended consequences impacting the sector as a whole.
Want to know more on these topics and/or actors? Don’t miss out Day 2 of the Controlled Environment Agriculture 4.0’E-Conference, scheduled for Friday 4th June 2021.
Want to know how CEA can be a key contribution to the global digital and environmental transitions while also building sustainable local food systems? Check out our CEA Explainer.
