New research findings and innovations in the field of agriculture are crucial for our farmers and agri-food industry to reach net zero. However, there is an absolute necessity to include engineering in the mix, to accelerate our pace of progress, according to the newly appointed President of Engineers Ireland, Dr Edmond Harty.
Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships this week, Dr Harty said: “Agricultural technology has now advanced to the point where robots can milk cows, harvest fruit, and even seed and weed our precious soils. In fact, the latest innovations in Artificial Intelligence (AI) can assist in identifying parasites in livestock; managing irrigation; and offering nutritional solutions to maximise crop yields”.
A magical mix of engineering and agriculture
Dr Harty believes that we must have greater vision, imagination, scale, and ambition in our drive to deliver on our net zero commitments. He said that “aside from a few companies, there is little focus on engineering as a key tool to accelerate the pace in delivering net zero. We are only scratching the surface of digital, renewable, and sustainable technologies. We can conquer the world with agricultural technologies if we really want to move the needle, but there are dots that need to be joined up at a pace that we have not had up to now.
Commenting on IFAC’s Irish Farm Report, released earlier this year which found that 48% of farmers considered cost the biggest barrier to adopting technology on their farms, Dr Harty said: “there are a lot of technologies to choose from, but the level of adoption is varied, and many farmers do not necessarily see the cost-benefit”.
Research and innovation in the areas of methane mitigation, soil modification for crops, and alternative fertilisation methods, have demonstrated that significant reductions in carbon emissions can be achieved. Dr Harty notes that this is a key area where engineers can delivery real impact by developing technology that puts this research into practice on Irish farms, and this is a key area where our engineers can deliver real impact.
Sustainability – our new currency
“We are operating in a world where sustainability is our new currency, and we must deliver economic, social, environmental, and nutritional sustainability. We must deliver nutrient-dense and healthy food of the highest quality, with the lowest carbon footprint to feed the needs of our growing and ageing population.
“The sector will have to deliver this working with our farmers, but they should also be working with our engineers. We also need to think about what our agriculture sector will look like in the next 20 years and how technology can benefit it,” Dr Harty said.
