How does Silicon Valley intervene in agriculture to feed tens of millions of people?

In the December 15 news, investors and entrepreneurs behind some emerging industries have begun to invest a lot of financial and technological talent in the world's oldest industry, or agriculture. They are ambitious and want to make sure that by 2100, the Earth people will have enough food to eat. People expect the world's population to reach 10 billion by then. In order to achieve the goal, they will not only not damage the natural ecology, but also the way to make a bowl full.

Silicon Valley is stepping into all aspects of agricultural production. Technology companies are gradually infiltrating the agricultural sector, from the efforts of tech giants to buy farms, to some start-ups to sell robots that can work in the fields, to programming marathons that are dedicated to developing agricultural software.

"The food sector is inefficient and wasteful," said Ali Patovi, a San Francisco Bay Area investor who invests heavily in sustainable agricultural start-ups, "and the tech mania of the Silicon Valley says, ' That's stupid." Why don't we change it? ’”

In the light of the growing commercial activity around the so-called "agricultural technology" sector, some experts predict that, in the case of new ventures and venture capital, in less than five years, the development of agricultural technology will surpass the most rampant technology today. In the third quarter of this year, venture capitalists and private companies invested 269 million of dollars in agricultural and food start-ups, reaching 41 deals, the highest amount of investment in years, compared with the same quarter last year, according to Cleantech Group. Since 2009, the amount of money invested in this sector has grown by an average of 63% a year.

"Agricultural technology will continue to grow bigger and stronger, will be bigger than the cloud software (cloud software), and will be bigger than big data, because people eat for the day," U.S. Venture partner and feeding billion ("support the tens of millions of people" Company founder Paul Matteucci said. "Moreover, agricultural technology will be entirely guided by entrepreneurs." ”

Dozens of companies are developing relevant technologies to make agricultural land more productive and to make agricultural production more efficient. They use robots to pick and weed, using software to calculate the amount of forage needed to graze. Others are delving into other technologies, such as finding alternatives to meat, cheese and eggs, which require less land for livestock, less trucks to transport the animals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and more animals from human slaughter.

And Silicon Valley is not just developing the technology for agricultural production. Some of the most active investors in Silicon Valley are buying farmland to direct their involvement in agricultural production, figuring out how farmers are doing farming, and the types of food that can be eaten by future generations. Farmland LP, based in San Francisco, bought many farms and turned them into organic pastures, allowing farmers and livestock farmers to share the farms. The company attracted the attention of some of the richest investors in Silicon Valley. But instead of attracting investors to the harmonious scene of roaming organically grown cows, many investors see investment farmland as an insurance and safety investment that can offset the loss of fickle technology investments.

Most farmers welcomed the arrival of Silicon Valley technology companies, hoping that Silicon Valley would help solve problems such as planting and flooding. For Californian farmers, they are getting more and more technologically savvy, from operating their fields through ipods to using cloud software to monitor soil moisture and nitrogen, and they are using more and more technology to get agriculture. And they are hungry for technology programs that can boost land products and increase income.

"At the moment, agricultural technology is reviving," said Ryan Jacobsen, executive director of the Farmer's Fresno Shawnee Farm according. "Technology is increasingly becoming the mainstream of agriculture, as more and more people believe that technology will help them reap more." These technologies do change the prejudices that people have about agriculture. It's a good year for farmers. ”

In many ways, the agricultural sector will do its best to spark Silicon Valley upheaval. Agriculture will be the first frontier for manufacturing innovation, and farmers will be eager to embrace new technologies. As a result of the collision between economic, technological and social factors over the past few years, farmers and technology enterprises in different worlds, and with very unequal financial resources and culture, have only recently begun to see each other as a resource for their own use.

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)