Category: Investigation / Watch

Digital agriculture in agricultural contractors and agricultural equipment cooperatives

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

Agricultural contractors (ETA – french acronym) and agricultural equipment cooperatives (CUMA – french acronym) are undoubtedly the two types of organizations most involved in agricultural equipment in the farming sector. While CUMA are generally seen as structures for sharing and pooling agricultural equipment, ETA are more commonly regarded as structures for outsourcing, subcontracting, or delegating Read more about Digital agriculture in agricultural contractors and agricultural equipment cooperatives[…]

Which technologies are needed for low-carbon, resilient and prosperous agriculture?

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

What technologies for low-carbon, resilient and prosperous agriculture? With The Shift Project, we are releasing our final report, which complements the Agriculture report. Views on technology, which are perhaps even more pronounced when it comes to agriculture, can be very divergent. While it is clear that many agricultural technologies have led to significant developments (yield Read more about Which technologies are needed for low-carbon, resilient and prosperous agriculture?[…]

Which digitalisation(s) to support the agroecological transition?

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

It’s a subject that crystallizes tensions: is cohabitation possible between agroecological systems, or those on the way to becoming so, and digital technologies? For some, these are two totally opposed worldviews, so different are the epistemological foundations and value systems of agroecology and digital technologies. For others, on the contrary, there’s no reason why digital Read more about Which digitalisation(s) to support the agroecological transition?[…]

Using digital technology to manage pests and diseases in agriculture

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

Weeds, insects, pests, diseases! These bio-aggressors are the main subject of this blog entry. Once again, the panorama of digital technologies to support their management is particularly broad: fixed and on-board sensors, agro-meteorological models, more or less advanced decision-support tools, agri-equipment and robotics… These digital tools meet a variety of objectives: Monitor the territory (in Read more about Using digital technology to manage pests and diseases in agriculture[…]

Agritech’s Environmental footprint

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

Digital technologies are generally presented as a powerful lever for decarbonizing the agricultural sector, or even more broadly as tools to support agricultural transition(s), without always knowing what we’re going to put in them… A blind spot in this proposal, however, remains the carbon footprint of these digital tools themselves. Still barely mentioned in the Read more about Agritech’s Environmental footprint[…]

Water management and digital technologies in agriculture

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

After a first generalized focus on carbon and a second on biodiversity, it looks like water will be the next guest on the podium. A United Nations conference on water was held in New York at the end of March 2023 (the last one was held 50 years ago) to mark World Water Day. The Read more about Water management and digital technologies in agriculture[…]

Towards a classification of digital tools in agriculture

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

A white paper to classify digital tools in agriculture 🤔 How do you categorize digital technologies in agriculture? To tell you the truth, it’s a bit of a puzzle. Categorizing 10, 20 or even 50 tools – that’s still okay, we get by. When you start to get to 500, 1000 or even 1500, it’s Read more about Towards a classification of digital tools in agriculture[…]

Connected weather stations in arboriculture

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

Everyone talks about weather stations, but it’s not easy to know where the market really stands. There are many station suppliers, the data sources are very varied, and the economic models associated with weather stations are of all kinds: sale of stations, station rentals, sale/rental to distributors, subscription to a station network, shared access to Read more about Connected weather stations in arboriculture[…]

Digital & Beekeeping: promises for beekeeping production and environmental biomonitoring

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

Bzz, Bzz! The bee is THE great national cause of the year 2022 in France ! Yes, it is, I swear. The bee was in the spotlight but you certainly didn’t know about it… The latest IPBES reports on biodiversity (please tell me you’ve at least heard of this acronym) are, without much surprise, ever Read more about Digital & Beekeeping: promises for beekeeping production and environmental biomonitoring[…]

The reasoning of nitrogen fertilization by digital tools: a rather fragile love affair

Posted on by CoxSunsetBeach

In 1913, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed the Haber-Bosch process to industrialize the production of ammonia, which, in addition to its terrible use in the development of explosives during the First World War, was also used to synthesize nitrogen fertilizers for agricultural fertilization. For some, the massive use of nitrogen fertilizers will have saved Read more about The reasoning of nitrogen fertilization by digital tools: a rather fragile love affair[…]