Wildfires across North America, Europe and Australia. Animal species dying out at unprecedented rates. Extreme weather events. Rising sea levels. 长期以来，气候变化一直是一种无形的威胁，在2018年造成了非常严重的损失. But beneath the surface lies another, 这些灾难之间被广泛忽视的联系:bbin游戏官网种植食物的方式.

农业在传统上是不受重视的——地球上的人口在不断增长，bbin游戏官网都需要吃饭. 但越来越多的研究结果表明，从长远来看，bbin游戏官网种植食物的方式是不可持续的，而且是环境变化的重要因素. bbin游戏官网目前的粮食系统使用了34%的土地和69%的淡水, and it produces almost a quarter of global greenhouse gases. Runoff from farms is the leading cause of freshwater pollution. 而农业是森林砍伐最重要的原因之一, 哪个国家在2017年向大气中排放了40亿吨二氧化碳.

But is there any real alternative? With global populations expected to surge to 9.8 billion by 2050,现代传统农业以“越多越好”的态度——肥料越多, more seeds, 长期以来，更多的农药一直被认为是bbin游戏官网的最佳行动方案. 但当bbin游戏官网赖以生存的体制也将bbin游戏官网推向灾难的边缘, a reckoning may be in order. bbin游戏官网需要的不是回归传统方式或拒绝科学. Exactly the opposite. 现在是农业真正拥抱技术和它所提供的精度的时候了.

A Shift in Agricultural Logic

bbin游戏官网目前的农业方法往好里说是不精确的，往坏里说是散漫的. 这是有效的——但前提是你只考虑短期内的孤立变量，比如收益率. To compete, 农民们别无选择，只能采用“喷雾-祈祷”技术, blanketing their crops with syntheticchemicals, in the hope of increasing output. My family comes from the Punjab region of India, which is agriculturally rich, but also has some of the highest rates of cancer in the country. 在农业中不加选择地使用合成化学品不仅在破坏环境，也在破坏bbin游戏官网自己, too.

现代农业是不可持续的，因为它在很大程度上忽视了支撑它的相互联系的系统. 工业化食品生产是以线性方式设计的. bbin游戏官网不惜一切代价追求产出，损害了空气本身的投入, water and soil—that make farming possible. 相反，bbin游戏官网需要的是拥抱一个循环、恢复和再生的系统. This isn't about laying blame. 我一生都在和农民一起工作，他们非常关心土地，但仍然受到他们所使用的工具和行业惯例的限制.

相反，是时候拥抱农业智能的潜力了. The very same computing power that enables autonomous vehicles, 语音识别和全球联网服务——利用并建立海量数据之间联系的技术——正在重塑bbin游戏官网种植粮食的方式. At root, 农业智能是指准确地提供作物所需的东西, exactly when it's needed.

Glimpsing the Future of Farming

Already, bbin游戏官网看到大量初创公司开发专门用于收集农业数据的技术, sometimes at the level of individual fields. 这些工具使农民能够对不断变化的微观条件做出反应，并微调他们如何部署水, pesticides and fertilizers. 像FarmShots和Vine View这样的服务使用无人机拍摄农作物的高分辨率热图像来测量水分, health and potential diseases. Drones are also being used for 3D mapping, 播种和施肥的速度远远超过人类的速度和效率.

Other innovations drill down to the level of the individual plant. 蓝河科技公司(Blue River Technology，最近被约翰迪尔收购)生产的复杂人工智能机器人使用摄像头, computers and artificial intelligence to monitor crops, 在“看到并喷洒”的基础上检测杂草和施用除草剂, in turn reducing herbicide use by up to 90 percent. 像Plantix这样的智能手机应用程序将植物的照片与疾病和营养缺乏的数据库进行比较, and then suggest a plan of action. Companies like Prospera expand on this concept, up to the level of whole-farm monitoring and management.

More exciting still is innovation at the molecular level. This isn't a matter of outsmarting nature; it's about understanding nature, so we can work with it.Machine learning is unlocking the intricacies of plant chemistry, 为减少农药和化肥需求的量身定制的治疗铺平了道路. Trace Genomics等公司正在对土壤样本进行测试，以识别病原体并在DNA水平上监测生育力. My own company, Terramera, 探索天然材料如何与有机和传统农业投入配对，以提高分子水平的吸收，以减少合成化学材料的使用, optimize plant health and increase crop yield. We want to help farmers be more efficient and do more with less.

我创立泰拉玛是因为我不想让bbin游戏官网靠消耗来走向灭绝. We all need to eat—that's a first priority. But for those who love this planet and the people on it, it's critical to think not just for our generation, but for a thousand generations. That means we need to do things differently.

诚然，现有农业体系的全球变革不会在一夜之间发生. But,in the face of climate change and mounting environmental damage, 无论是坚持到底还是寄希望于拒绝技术的“回归土地”方法都是不可行的. 相反，bbin游戏官网需要的是专注于增量变化的意愿, 平衡短期的经济活力和长期的雄心壮志. 其中一部分是利用bbin游戏官网所掌握的所有工具和合作伙伴, 从维持生计的农民到像嘉吉和拜耳/孟山都这样的农业巨头. At times of crisis, there's little point picking sides. We're in this together.

Agricultural intelligence can revolutionize how we grow our food, minimize resource use,优化自然投入，甚至使多年过度使用而焦化的土地再生. The aspiration is lofty, 但并非遥不可及:回馈bbin游戏官网从地球上夺走的一些东西, while feeding ourselves in the process.

Originally published on EcoWatch