SYNGENTA GROUP
Using
sustainable AgTech to feed the world
“ FUTURE TECH PLAYS AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT ROLE TO HELP THE FARMERS ”
FEROZ SHEIKH CHIEF INFORMATION AND DIGITAL OFFICER , SYGENTA GROUP
Sheikh explains that , in a typical season , the farmer has to make anywhere close to 100-150 decisions ranging from what seed variety to use , how are they going to plant it , how to protect their crop during the season and when to harvest , for example .
“ Technology plays an increasingly important and relevant role to help the farmers make better decisions . There is still a lot of untapped economic headroom in agriculture . We have algorithms that factor in elements such as soil characteristics , weather predictions , and seed variety and performance data from R & D , which help make recommendations so they can make better business decisions as a grower , ” says Sheikh .
Sheikh sees a future where machines autonomously inspect fields on behalf of farmers for signs of plant stress and crop protection decisions . For instance : “ You could have machines that are moving in the field , inspecting the condition of the crop using cameras and computer vision , and then taking application decisions autonomously .”
Sheikh also references drones , which are deciding whether to harvest the fruit in an orchard ; taking a picture of an apple and determining if it is ready to pluck it from the branch or not .
62 July 2022