Big solutions with big data
Following swiftly on the heels of the Internet of Everything (IoE), is a movement being described as the Internet of Food – a desire to harness the capability of IoE and the opportunities presented by big data to be able to make a positive impact on global food production, delivery and consumption – or indeed, the entire food value chain.
From the business sector to governments, academics and even the general public, ensuring food security is essential if we are going to meet the challenge of feeding over 9 billion people in 2050. This means we need to think smart and consider all the possibilities – especially those presented by advances in technology like the sensor enabled infrastructure all around us, or even floating above us (technology that enables satellite farming, for example).
With mash-ups between all the variations of combinations involving sensor data, historical weather patterns, food distribution data, or predicted global mega trends, to give a few examples, there could be innovative solutions found that could transform the global production and delivery of food.
This report from Thomson Reuters investigates how data could be the answer to feeding 9 billion bowls. The report suggests that “perhaps no other area is so ripe for data-based solutions than the production and delivery of food”, adding that “a quiet revolution is already taking place where a diverse group of scientists, students, analysts and inventors” are “leveraging big data and leading-edge technologies in entirely new ways to get far better results at every link in the food supply chain” to be able to producer better quality food, in greater volumes with “less waste and fewer chemicals”.
