Data is the new tractor

A farmer’s field may appear to be a quiet, peaceful place. But modern farms are full of sophisticated digital technology – tools which have helped to boost productivity and produce more food than ever before.

Now technological breakthroughs such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are poised to accelerate productivity even further. As Feroz Sheikh, Chief Information and Digital Officer for Syngenta, says, “data is the new tractor”. But what does this eye-catching phrase mean for farmers wanting to boost their yields while working within the environmental limits of their land?

Sheikh explains: “To say data is the new tractor means that data is the core enabler of what I am about to do. Data is not just a by-product that we get at the end of a process like a farmer harvesting their crops. Rather, data is what drives productivity to maximize farmers’ outcomes.”

For Sheikh, making the most of data means the creation of new digital tools for farmers. But he’s also keenly aware of the pressures that farmers face around the world.

“These tools and data need to be designed to be seamless with what farmers do today, we can’t disrupt their workflow.

“The important thing is that data should be labor-saving,” he says. “Think of scouting reports. Instead of doing it manually, what if it could be done with a drone or satellite imagery that can give targeted intel? Instead of spending two hours walking their fields, farmers could get the information they need in just 15 minutes.”

A farmer’s perspective

Data discoveries are already changing how farmers work. Take Bill McDonnell, a fifth-generation farmer who manages 1,000 acres alongside his father, growing soybean and corn in Northern Illinois, the heart of the American Corn Belt.

For this self-confessed ag-tech nerd, the phrase “data is the new tractor” represents something already in motion, and a promise of what farming might become in the future. On McDonnell’s farm, data collection is done with in-field sensors. It is constantly collected and collated from season to season to help boost performance.

As well as running his own farm, McDonnell is Syngenta’s Digital Solutions Lead. He is also in charge of one of the company’s key sites – a 152-acre farm that specializes in innovative digital agriculture.

This farm, known as the Farm of the Future, is based near Ottawa, Illinois, and acts as a kind of agronomic laboratory, testing out new technologies and practices to see how they perform in real-world conditions. This allows McDonnell and other experts to assess if a promising new idea or technique can work at the required scale.

Algorithms help to guide decision-making around seed selection and drones hover over the fields offering targeted defence against weeds, pests and disease. McDonnell says: “Here we try out new technologies before they reach farmers. That way we can give evidence-based answers for what’s most effective.”

For McDonnell, it’s not just about having new digital tools – it’s about what those tools allow farmers to do. “Mechanization and the introduction of the tractor meant moving away from using horses. This was such a breakthrough because it let farmers increase productivity with less labor.”

For farmers, the real benefits come after the information has been collected and the resulting insights can be put into action in the field.

Bill McDonnell, a fifth-generation farmer and Digital Solutions Lead at Syngenta.

Data discoveries are already changing how farmers work. Take Bill McDonnell, a fifth-generation farmer who manages 1,000 acres alongside his father, growing soybean and corn in Northern Illinois, the heart of the American Corn Belt.

For this self-confessed ag-tech nerd, the phrase “data is the new tractor” represents something already in motion, and a promise of what farming might become in the future. On McDonnell’s farm, data collection is done with in-field sensors. It is constantly collected and collated from season to season to help boost performance.

As well as running his own farm, McDonnell is Syngenta’s Digital Solutions Lead. He is also in charge of one of the company’s key sites – a 152-acre farm that specializes in innovative digital agriculture.

This farm, known as the Farm of the Future, is based near Ottawa, Illinois, and acts as a kind of agronomic laboratory, testing out new technologies and practices to see how they perform in real-world conditions. This allows McDonnell and other experts to assess if a promising new idea or technique can work at the required scale.

Algorithms help to guide decision-making around seed selection and drones hover over the fields offering targeted defence against weeds, pests and disease. McDonnell says: “Here we try out new technologies before they reach farmers. That way we can give evidence-based answers for what’s most effective.”

For McDonnell, it’s not just about having new digital tools – it’s about what those tools allow farmers to do. “Mechanization and the introduction of the tractor meant moving away from using horses. This was such a breakthrough because it let farmers increase productivity with less labor.”

For farmers, the real benefits come after the information has been collected and the resulting insights can be put into action in the field.

Bill McDonnell, a fifth-generation farmer and Digital Solutions Lead at Syngenta.

What about smallholders?

While technology is changing how farmers with sizeable plots work, Sheikh is quick to point out that the advantages of data in boosting productivity should extend to farmers everywhere.

He says: “Smallholders have very different needs. In India for example, the average farm is five to 10 acres. They don’t have the same need to use satellite imagery for land surveys, they can do it themselves.”

As far as smallholders are concerned, it’s the economic possibilities that data unlocks that can have a major impact on their business.

For smallholders, data can unlock economic benefits which can have a major impact on their farm businesses.

For smallholders, data can unlock economic benefits which can have a major impact on their farm businesses.

Sheikh explains: “If in one season you got a good price for tomatoes, the next season will see oversupply. That causes a crash in prices. But with the right data you can give farmers real-time insight into commodity prices and stabilise regional commodity prices. That brings macro benefits to a whole region, not just to one farmer.”

McDonnell says that the data-gathering and analysis enabled by AI and ML means that farmers have access to invaluable insights faster than ever. “This is a unique time in agriculture. There’s been a lot of change in a very short period of time.”

Looking to the future

With technological change continuing at a fast pace, what else can data do for farmers? McDonnell says that “one of the most exciting things is that we could work towards using historical data and some kind of ML database to generate detailed bespoke predictive models”.

McDonnell is also excited about autonomous technology – vehicles and farm equipment that don’t depend on a human to drive them but can steer themselves and carry out functions independently.

Additionally, he sees great potential in cloud computing. Essentially, this means using the power of the internet to make data storage, management, sharing and analysis more seamless and efficient.

This may sound technical but, as McDonnell explains, "one thing that has really helped data collection is cloud-based services”. He continues: “This is where you connect your tractor or combine to the internet, meaning that your data gets off the monitor and that allows you to put it to use straightaway.”

This kind of immediate access to data means that farmers don’t need to wait until the end of a season to know whether a certain field is underperforming, for example. The quicker they can get useful data the more responsive farmers can be.

Sheikh agrees: “Ultimately automation will give rise to a whole new way of working for farmers. The future will see farmers using collections of autonomous tractors with preloaded inputs, and an on-board agronomy brain making real-time optimized decisions. These tractors could then be integrated into a wider network of sensors, making farms more connected, more productive and more sustainable.”

Cloud computing and bespoke predictive models allow farmers to access data on-farm quickly to help them make more informed decisions.

Automation will give rise to a whole new way of working for farmers, says Feroz Sheikh.