◆ World Knowledge Forum ◆
Experts predicted on the 11th that the key to future agricultural competitiveness is how to use various digital technologies. If agriculture in the past relied on farmer experience and technology, it is necessary to prepare for the era of technology-based agriculture as dependence on artificial intelligence (AI), data, robots, and plant factories increases in the future.
The “World Knowledge Forum Gyeongbuk Session” held at Inspire Entertainment Resort in Yeongjong-do, Incheon, provided an opportunity to check the coordinates of the domestic agricultural industry and envision the direction of the development of Gyeongbuk agriculture. North Gyeongsang Province is currently focusing on converting agriculture into a technology-based industry, setting its goal of the provincial government as “advanced agriculture.”
In the first session of the day, related experts gathered together under the theme of “How far have we come to technology-based agriculture?” to predict the future of agriculture. “As the average age of farmers worldwide is 63, the labor shortage problem will be a factor that will cause agricultural prices to soar in the future,” said Dove Petman, chief financial officer of Aerobotics Technologies. “In the future, we need to use drones and robot technologies to solve labor problems.” Tebel Aerobotics is an Israeli startup that has developed an AI drone that can harvest apples and is drawing attention. On the same day, CFO Petman drew attention by releasing a video of an apple harvesting drone developed by his company.
Representative Junghoon Lee Telopharm noted the popularization of ‘distributed agriculture’. Distributed agriculture refers to agriculture that utilizes a small space like a garden in a house yard. CEO Lee said, “In the future, we will not be bound by a huge agricultural method. If we receive help from semiconductor technology, we will be able to grasp the growth status of plants in real time and produce food at village corners or in our backyard.” Telopharm is famous for its smart farm companies that incorporate semiconductors into agriculture. Kang Young-joon, CEO of DSE, also said, “If facility cultivation or vertical farms develop in the future, plant lighting will inevitably become important. Just as we did not think we would buy water in the past, I think there will be a day when we will have to pay for not only photosynthesis of plants but also the sun.”
In the past, agriculture and food were considered separate industries, but in recent years, there has been a voice that the so-called Agro-Food Tech Industry should be actively fostered as it is connected by a single value chain. In the second session, discussions continued on the importance of the “Agro and Food Tech Industries” under the theme of “The Agri-Food Industry Changed by AI.” Cocoa prices soared earlier this year, and internally, they were already predicting this through various data, Shin Ho-sik, founder and CEO of Tridge, said. “In the future, whether agriculture can predict the market using data will eventually be competitive.” Tridge is a company that is leading the change in agriculture through big data, such as establishing a global supply chain management system for agricultural products.
Choi Young-deok, CEO of earthenware, also argued, “AI data can solve problems arising from business, shipment, and delivery necessary for the agricultural food industry,” adding, “It can also lower the crop disposal rate of contract growers.” Togi is a company that has developed a platform that helps food purchases and branding marketing at workplaces through AI algorithm technology in the agri-food field.
Lim Ki-byeong, a professor of horticulture at Kyungpook National University, said, “We have developed new seeds by human hands, but there will be a day when AI develops new species in the future.”
WOO Sungduk