The US Food and Agriculture sector is painstakingly undergoing the digital transformation necessary to meet domestic and international consumers’ modern demands. Customer expectations for quality and availability, sustainability, supply chain transparency and traceability, and logistics optimization drive this recent shift.
Agriculture 3.0, characterized by the adoption of remote sensors, reliance on cloud connectivity, a rapid transition towards automation, and the incorporation of real-time variable rate technologies, is here today. See it in the data collected, analyzed, and monitored at every growth, processing, and transportation stage. Machine-learning optimization algorithms govern mission-critical operations, incrementally maximizing revenue with each micro-decision.
According to the World Government Summit report, Agriculture 4.0 – The Future of Farming Technology predicts that the onset of Agriculture 4.0 will occur around 2030. Its success will be gauged according to demographics and scarcity of natural resources, climate change, and food waste. At a point, Agriculture 4.0 can be expected to no longer depend on applying water, fertilizers, and pesticides uniformly across entire fields. Instead, farmers will use the minimum quantities required to target particular areas.
Farms are likely to be managed very differently, primarily due to technological advancements, e.g., sensors, devices, machines, and information technology. Future agriculture will use sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technology. These advanced devices, precision agriculture, and robotic systems will allow farms to be more profitable, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly.
Achieving the technological goals of Agriculture 4.0 are likely essential because, according to the World Government Summit’s estimations, by 2050, it will be necessary for producers to increase production by 70 percent more food at roughly the same or less expected cost and revenue. The metrics above indicate future needs can only be met through a greater focus on automation and precision agriculture.
As we continue toward Agriculture 4.0, the sector is likely to adopt autonomous systems and artificial intelligence further, incorporate blockchain solutions, and improve system redundancy and resilience; however, progress is currently limited by technological developments and rural access to highspeed broadband, 5G, and LEO satellite internet.
Disruption Jeopardizes the Food-to-Table Spectrum
Attacks against agriculture stakeholders of all sizes have annually increased since 2018 in proportion to the digital transformation and modernization of the sector. In Information Security, risk can often be quantified according to scenarios and impacts against a mission-critical asset; confidentiality, availability, and integrity. In 2018 the US Department of Homeland Security released a 25-page report to raise awareness; Threats to Precision Agriculture designated the top threats to confidentiality, integrity, and availability in the US Food and Agriculture sector respectively as theft of intellectual property and data, targeted disruption and data-driven attacks, and signal loss and data bandwidth limits typical in rural communications networks. Similarly, in 2020, the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) created a 14-page guide; Cyber Security for Farmers; to help educate sole traders, small to medium-sized operators, and large-scale commercial farms on cybersecurity and cyber-hygiene fundamentals.
Disruptionware attacks against farms and other agriculture infrastructure became more frequent in 2022 and will continue to increase as food, and agriculture infrastructure modernizes. However, fundamental cybersecurity and cyber-hygiene best practices can mitigate most targeted or opportunistic attacks.
In summary, farming infrastructure is expensive, and daily life depends on its continuous operation. Farm owners and operators can help foster Agriculture 3.0 and 4.0 by improving their fundamental cybersecurity and cyber-hygiene according to the following six recommendations:
- Keep computers and other Internet-enabled systems regularly updated and replaced.
- Make regular backups of your important data, such as emails, invoices, contacts, orders, and quotes.
- Keep these backups in a separate location.
- Keep your devices safe, as you would any other valuable asset.
- Protect phones, laptops, autonomous farming equipment, and other assets with antimalware, complex passwords, encryption, and multi-factor authentication where possible – most of which can be downloaded from reputable vendors on an app store and feature single-button installation.
- Practice “stranger danger.” Scams typically try to hook victims with false authority and urgency. When receiving an email or call, do not share information unless the call is expected.
Author Joyce Hunter is the Executive Director of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT), a cybersecurity think tank, and is Founder and President of the Open Data STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture/Athletics, and Math) summer camps for underserved and underrepresented youth.