Food insecurity, resource scarcity and the impact of farming on climate change could all be addressed with the help of satellites, according to a World Economic Forum report.
The market for agricultural insights from space is likely to be worth $1billion by 2030 — double its value today — and that over the next few years, high-quality satellite images will be affordable enough to bring significant savings through enabling farmers to improve their planning, the lobby group’s report says.
This might include through getting advanced notice of pest problems, which could help save 0.8 billion tonnes of crops and reduce the use of pesticides. Irrigation could be optimised to improve water efficiency through the use of satellite imagery, with a 2.8 billion-litre freshwater saving possible, the report added.
Improved yield estimation and optimisation and resilience to natural disasters could also be achieved with the help of images from space, bringing hundreds of billions in economic value to farmers worldwide, the report’s authors wrote.
As well as the use of imagery, satellite-enabled connectivity could prove a route to easier automation of agricultural processes, as well as continuous monitoring in areas of otherwise poor broadband coverage.
Growth requires new focus
Written in collaboration with global consulting company McKinsey & Company, the report notes that satellites are already providing value in agriculture, with farmers using satellite information to reduce inputs and governments monitoring food security and verifying outputs for subsidy schemes.
“In the next decade, improving resolution and decreasing per-image prices will create the opportunity for satellite-based remote sensing to scale to a level previously considered impossible,” the report says.
To achieve the improvements suggested, those likely to be using the technologies should be involved in their continued development, it notes, while transparency from developers is needed on where imagery from space is most accurate or lacking, in order to build trust. Data-sharing and cross-industry collaboration will also be critical for the vision to become reality.
“Without action by most stakeholders in the industry, adoption will not reach its potential,” it adds.
“The technology needed for satellite data-driven insights to hit S-curve growth is primed – and the right actions from growers, technologies, governments and the space and agriculture industries can help satellite applications realise their full potential rapidly in order to address some of the largest issues of today.”
