Biodiversity is the first impression for a visitor to the Farm of the Future at Wageningen University in Lelystad, Netherlands. This is thanks to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and farming technology.

All kinds of crops underline the pest- and climate-conscious inter-cropping model on this open air field. A September 4, 2023 BBC story shows how the background is like any other on a typical European farm. Windmills, as usual, fan the near horizon.

The revolutionary effect lies in the fact that this is not a mere corn field or wheat field but an all-crop farm featuring grains, tubers and legumes row by row.

According to Wijnand Sukhel, the Farm of the Future’s manager, the reason is simply “biodiversity…and higher yields.” 

Besides, the pest menace has lessened. As leguminous crops help fix nitrogen in the soil, others help eliminate pests that attack mono crops. 

At a time when zero-carbon is the high agenda of the European Commission’s green future, this farm is committed to just that. Water, for instance, efficiently drains into the soil without loss as fibrous and other root systems entrap and utilize it. 

Mr Sukkel says that it is like having “a  big water bubble” reservoir in the underground.

The bigger picture of biodiversity is that animal life and plant life will always be interdependent on the farm. Unlike the situation where a single crop harvest leaves crawlers with nothing to eat, on this farm crops develop at different stages, ensuring insect food all the time.

There is also the intelligent side of tech on this biodiversity model. The sprayer tells weeds apart and only sparingly covers those on its culture test. Thus, the harvested crops are capable to meet the European Union’s 0.01 mg/kg minimum residual (MRS) chemical content.

Could this tech fuel further growth for the Netherlands’ lucrative agricultural sector? The country ranked second in worldwide agricultural exports worth $104.7 billion in 2022. The bulk of these exports are through the direct or value-added resale of agricultural produce that the country imports from elsewhere. 

Some Dutch farmers think that tech, despite helping to feed the world, is ecologically destructive. Fuel-guzzling harvesters and the like contribute to the carbon footprint in the agricultural sector. 

All the same, in the Netherlands, Artificial Intelligence (AI), rather than huge machines, is helping produce food in a sustainable manner.  It is technologies like these that could not only mean “quantity but also quality.” This remark by Mr Jacob van den Borne, a potato and sugar beet farmer from southwest Holland.