World Soil Day: High Tech In Farming

• Published date: 29 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Environment, Real Estate and Construction, Technology, Environmental Law, Land Law & Agriculture, Climate Change, Waste Management, New Technology
• Law Firm: J A Kemp LLP
• Author: Mr Richard Morris

One of the oldest areas in which technology has made its impact on human civilisation is farming. The development of agricultural techniques in the Neolithic period allowed humans to transition from nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyles to living in permanent settlements. The agricultural revolution in Britain through the 17^th to 19^th centuries led to a huge increase in productivity that freed up labour for the Industrial Revolution. New developments in agriculture will continue to be crucial in future as farming adapts to new challenges such as climate change. DEFRA (the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) recently announced '11 million in funding to support pilot projects under their Farming Innovation Programme. On World Soil Day, we consider some of these projects and how developments in technology may continue to affect farming practices in the future.

Fertilisers

The use of artificial fertilisers has greatly increased crop yields over the last hundred years. Nitrogen in particular can be fixed from the atmosphere to produce fertiliser products such as ammonia and ammonium nitrate, and this is commonly achieved using the Haber process. This is a chemical process invented in the early 20^th century that fixes atmospheric nitrogen using catalysts, high temperatures, and high pressures. While effective, the Haber process is energy-intensive and uses large amounts of natural gas as a raw material. Some estimates suggest the Haber process alone may account for up to 1% of total CO₂ emissions worldwide. Reducing the carbon footprint of agriculture will be important to combat climate change. One way to do so would be to find other ways of producing artificial fertilisers that are less energy intensive and do not rely on fossil fuels.

Two of DEFRA's pilot projects will investigate new processes for low-carbon fertiliser production. The first aims to use organic material in combination with carbon dioxide captured from industrial power generation to produce fertiliser with a reduced carbon footprint. The other aims to produce fertiliser using waste materials from the bio-energy, waste management, and agriculture sectors. Using waste materials and captured carbon dioxide to produce fertiliser would have a doubly-beneficial effect of reducing the environmental impact of both fertiliser production and the processes from which the waste materials are captured.

AI and Automation

The use of chemicals such as fertilisers and herbicides in...