"Farmers need to become more productive. More productive means more powerful and efficient," says Läubli. Against this backdrop, digitization is gaining additional importance. It helps farmers make their production more resource-efficient. One example is Bucher's collaboration with the Swiss start-up "ecorobotix." The system, originally developed by tinkerers, enables the highly precise application of crop protection products to individual plants. Instead of the watering-can principle, artificial intelligence is used to treat only those plants that actually need treatment. "In this way, we can save up to 95 percent herbicides on one hectare," says Läubli. However, it was only through the cooperation with Bucher that ecorobotix was able to make its technology marketable at all, treat large fields efficiently, and apply fungicides in addition to herbicides.
"There is no way around digitization."
Digitization can also save a lot of time in administrative work. "Data exchange in the agricultural and food sector still works manually for the most part," says Läubli. This also applies to the cooperation between the administration and the farms. However, the federal government will remedy the situation with the digiFLUX platform. "In order to reduce the administrative burden and drive digitization forward, the federal government has adopted the foundations for the establishment of a competence center for digital transformation in the agricultural and food sector."
The aim of digiFLUX is to record the use and trade of crop protection products and nutrients. However, in order to collect data over a larger area in the future, their exchange needs to be simplified by ensuring interoperability. In other words, the data collected by different devices and stored in individual clouds must be exchangeable across system boundaries. This is crucial for generating new knowledge about the optimal production of food. For Läubli, it is clear that "there is no way around digitalization."
"Monitoring the stress level of plants"
Vegetable grower Julien Stoll already makes intensive use of digital technologies in his greenhouses in Yverdon. "Plant cultivation is extremely time consuming. In addition, there is a shortage of skilled workers. Digitalization helps me reconcile everything, including my private life with my family and dog," Stoll begins his presentation. After all, tomatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers also need constant attention. "I sometimes feel like a coach of elite athletes," Stoll says. |