What are the new technological paths of modern agriculture?

The term Agriculture 4.0 derives from the concept of Industry 4.0, coined in 2013 in Germany, with the aim of guiding industrial initiatives in a smart and interconnected world. Industry 4.0 is characterized by the integration of the physical, digital and biological worlds, based on digital technologies, synthetic biology and end-to-end engineering. Widely adopted since the 2000s, these technologies have come to support decision-making in several sectors, including Agriculture. Therefore, as an analogy to Industry 4.0, the term Agriculture 4.0 originated.

Agriculture has undergone important paradigm shifts since the Agricultural Revolution – around 10.000 BC – until the Digital Age, in which Agriculture 4.0 is taking hold. Digital technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Ubiquitous Connectivity e Artificial Intelligence (AI), are the basis of this transformation. In Agriculture 4.0, these technologies are specifically aimed at improving productive and economic results for the producer and other links in the production chain.

However, global challenges for agriculture have intensified and become more complex, and are no longer limited to production and economic aspects, which has led to a new phase known as Agriculture 5.0. This new transformation is characterized by the development and diffusion of technology aimed at the economic, social and environmental spheres. Therefore, it is a broader concept that considers issues such as changes in consumption habits, mitigation of emissions and removal of greenhouse gases, adaptation to global warming, increased biodiversity, access to appropriate technologies and the use of clean and renewable energy.

As it is a phenomenon under construction, Agriculture 5.0 does not yet have a precise definition, but it also originated from the term Industry 5.0, established by the European Commission in 2021 in response to trends of rapid population growth, climate change and depletion of natural resources.

Agriculture is currently responsible for around 20% of greenhouse gas emissions and the majority of water consumption worldwide. The large-scale use of antibiotics and pesticides is associated with the emergence of resistant bacteria and pests, as well as the pollution of natural resources and the reduction of biodiversity. No less important, agriculture has the responsibility of feeding a population that is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050 and reducing the level of waste in the food system, which is around 30% of total production.

Table 1 – Evolution of technology in agriculture and its characteristics

Source: prepared by the author based on Albiero et al. (2020), Fraser and Campbell (2019), Horlings and Marsden (2011) and Ragazou et al. (2022)

Regarding productive aspects, agriculture has historically shown itself capable of generating significant increases in productivity. The index of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) Brazilian agriculture, for example, grew by 278% between 1975 and 2020, while production practically quintupled.

FIGURE 1

In Brazil, due to its continental size, diversity of climates, soils and reliefs, social disparities and productive heterogeneity, farmers coexist in the various stages of agricultural evolution. In our rural environment, there are both those who adopt cutting-edge technology and are engaged with social and environmental aspects, as well as those who still adopt rudimentary production techniques, do not have access to technology and are not integrated into the market. Reducing these disparities and adapting technologies to the most diverse production contexts and producer profiles constitute the main challenge to be overcome by Agriculture 5.0 in Brazil.

With the transition to Agriculture 5.0, environmental and social aspects must be incorporated into the economic-productive reality and will be the drivers of modern agriculture. Technology will be a means to achieve this, but it is still necessary to establish the roles that producers, governments and their policies, and consumers will play in this new phase of agriculture.

Brazil has enormous potential for this transformation, but it needs to do its homework by developing public policies capable of reducing disparities in rural areas and economic incentives to direct producers and consumers towards more sustainable practices and habits. In this context, mechanisms such as credit directed at sustainable production, rural insurance, short-chain marketing platforms (institutional markets, fairs, agricultural support communities), development of technologies adapted to the different realities of rural producers and disseminated widely, improvements in logistics infrastructure and rural extension represent ways in which Brazil can take advantage of technological development, reduce inequalities and improve socio-productive conditions among its producers so that we can achieve global prominence in the context of Agriculture 5.0.

References and recommended readings

ALBIERO, D.; PAULO, RL D; FÉLIX JUNIOR, JC; SANTOS, JDSG; MELO, RP Agriculture 4.0: a terminological introduction. Journal of Agricultural Science, v. 51, 2021.

FRASER, ED G; CAMPBELL, M. Agriculture 5.0: reconciling production with planetary health. One Earth, vol. 1, no. 3, p. 278-280, 2019.

GASQUES, JG, BASTOS, ET, BACCHI, MRP, & VIEIRA FILHO, JER Total factor productivity in agriculture: Brazil and selected countries. Discussion Paper, n. 2764. Brasília: Ipea, May 2022.

GODFRAY, HCJ, CRUTE, IR, HADDAD, L., LAWRENCE, D., MUIR, JF, NISBETT, N., ... & WHITELEY, R. The future of the global food system. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 365, no. 1554, p. 2769-2777, 2010.

HORLINGS, LG; MARSDEN, TK Towards the real green revolution? Exploring the conceptual dimensions of a new ecological modernization of agriculture that could 'feed the world'. Global environmental change, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 441-452, 2011.

HUANG, K.; SHU, L.; LI, K.; YANG, F.; HAN, G.; WANG, X.; PEARSON, S. Photovoltaic agricultural internet of things towards realizing the next generation of smart farming. IEEE Access, v. 8, p. 76300-76312, 2020.

KAGERMANN, H., HELBIG, J.; HELLINGER, A.; WAHLSTER, W. Recommendations for implementing the strategic initiative INDUSTRIE 4.0: Securing the future of German manufacturing industry. Final report of the Industry 4.0 Working Group. Forschungsunion, 2013.

RAGAZOU, K; GAREFALAKIS, A.; ZAFEIRIOU, E.; PASSAS, I. Agriculture 5.0: A new strategic management model for a cut cost and an energy efficient agriculture sector. Energies, vol. 15, no. 9, p. 3113, 2022.

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