Page 61 - September October 2018 Disruption Report Flip Book

FARM CREDIT SYSTEM / FARMER MAC SEJPATN.U-AORCYT.20210818
investments have been directed at U.S. firms, but some have involved major investments with firms located in Europe, Israel, China, and elsewhere.
...Despite American leadership in technological innovation in agriculture, federal regulations are currently limiting both precision agriculture and biotechnology applications. For example, UAS can provide aerial crop surveys with greater resolution than satellite imagery, and at a frequency desired by farmers. However, the Federal Aviation Administration regulations on commercial UAS operations limit the ability of farmers to conduct these surveys for precision agriculture applications.
On the biotechnology front, better coordination of the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and Food and Drug Administration regulations
on genetic modification of crops and livestock is needed to reduce barriers to commercialization of safe, beneficial and improved genetically engineered entities. Our regulatory system must protect public health, welfare, safety, and our environment while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation.
In addition, the growing rural needs for large data collection and processing require the necessary communications infrastructure to handle the quantities of data needed. Big Data is proliferating across all aspects of the global agricultural supply chain and will require policy development that protects farmers’ privacy, U.S. companies, and U.S. national security interests, if the information revolution is to be fully realized in rural America. (Report to the President Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity, Secretary Sonny Perdue, 10/21/17)
From 2012 to 2017, Agtech startups raised more than $10 billion to develop technologies, ranging from farm management systems to robotics and mechanization. “All the big agricultural companies are like the mainframe IT companies of the 70s — waiting to be disrupted,” said an American engineer, who is actively investing in Parisian-based agtech startups.
“Massive changes will occur through the combination of technologies and new technological platforms, like combinations of genetics and sensors and AI to monitor the nutritional status of plants, animals and humans,” says Louise Fresco, president of Wageningen University. (Financial Times, Emiko Terazono, 10/15/18)
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