From traditional agriculture to AgTech

Abstract

Agriculture is a fundamental element of every economy. However, global issues such as climate change, land deterioration, and a continuously growing population are strongly impacting the sector. It is estimated that by 2050 the population will increase by two billion, reaching 9 billion people to be fed. In the past 34 years, researchers investigated the use of potential technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), robotics, etc. The readiness of these technologies and the positive impact that they have on the sector is proven by numerous studies. However, these technologies are still not diffused enough within common farming practices. Adoption rates are very low, as well as full understanding of the technologies from the farmers’ perspective. Without a shift towards the digitalization of farming practices, the agriculture sector could be damaged, impacting both the future of society and general economy. This is why a change in the actual regime of production is needed: from traditional agriculture to AgTech. In this work, through interviews with winegrowers and analyses of technologies proposed by vineyards start-ups, an understanding of future market development is derived. The concept of sustainability is investigated as one of the major drivers towards the change of regime. More specifically, the study has been conducted on the viticulture domain, tackling in a very context-specific manner the problems concerning this branch of the field. A set of to-be-used criteria for start-ups business model creation is derived by the main needs of the growers and the degree of technology adoption observed. The criteria, or archetypes, have been developed on the base of the Sustainable Business Model Archetypes. A new model is proposed, which is a starting point towards the shift of regime and the digitalization of the agriculture field.