Chris Perry, an Alberta potato farmer, presented these slides as part of the Cybera Summit 2011 session entitled, Economic Development and the Cloud: The Alberta Advantage. To learn more about this event or to watch videos archives of this and the other sessions, visit http://www.cybera.ca/summit2011/media

1. Cybera
Summit
2011
-­‐
Banff

2. A
Spud
Farmer…
Its
true:

4. History
of
Farming
now
here’s
something
you
didn’t
think
you
were
coming
to
Banff
to
hear…
 What
does
ICT
Cloud
compuCng
and
the
FerCle
Crescent
Neolithic
Farming
RevoluCon
(end
of
the
stone
age)
10,000
years
ago
have
in
common?
They
are
new
cu8ng
edge
technology
of
their
;me…
 Farming
RevoluCon
–
8000
BC
in
the
FerCle
Crescent
and
other
areas
 Birth
of
civilizaCon
and
abundant
populaCons
 For
the
first
Cme
in
Human
history
people
were
“rich”
 Allowed
a
lifestyle
change
that
brought
about
the
luxury
of
free
Cme,
-­‐
beginning
of
wriCng
and
art
and
somewhere
down
the
road…
cloud
compuCng

5. Important
factors
of
the
Farming
RevoluCon
Period
 Producing
enough
food
to
support
a
healthy
community,
survival
 Security
of
food
supplies
from
raiding
neighbors
–
began
civilizaCon
and
hierarchies
 Rise
and
fall
of
Empires
based
on
producCvity
of
land,
water,
ferClity
and
the
cycle
of
Mother
Nature
(MNS)

7. So
begins
a
quest
for
food
producCon
sustainability
and
a
required
increase
in
yield
/
acre
to
support
the
growing
populaCon

8. Game
changing
events
of
agriculture
Cyber
GMO
Infrastructure
Green
RevoluCon
ART 1940-­‐70:
high
yielding
varieCes,
distribuCon
of
ferClizer
and
pesCcides
Y
i Haber
–
Bosch
Feeding
1/3
to
½
e Of
the
populaCon
today
l Industrial
RevoluCon
ART
d Nutrient
Mid
1800’s
Early
1900’s
Justus
von
Liebig
addi9on
“law
of
the
minimum”
ART
Farming
Revolu9on
8000BC
A
RT irriga9on
Time

9. Reality
Today

10. Farming’s
Sustainable
areas:
1. Climate,
Land
and
water
2. Community,
communicaCon
3. DistribuCon
of
goods,
and
inputs
4. Energy
security
5. Economics

11. Important
factors
of
the
Farming
RevoluCon
Period
TODAY
 Producing
enough
food
to
support
a
healthy
community
Planet
 Security
of
food
supplies
–
Food
Safety
 Rise
and
fall
of
Empires
PopulaCon
based
on
producCvity
of
land,
water,
ferClity
and
the
cycle
of
Mother
Nature

(MNS)
 And
so
begins
conCnues
a
quest
for
food
producCon
sustainability
-­‐
indeed
an
increase
in
 yield
/
acre

12. How
can
Cyber
Infrastructure
Help?
1. Best
Management
PracCces
–
with
Knowledge
of
Today
2. Food
safety,
and
real
Cme
public
communicaCon
3.
Precision
Agriculture
dialed
up
–
this
is
not
new
 The
implementaCon
of
yesterdays
ideas,
with
technology,
data
analysis
and
management
capacity
of
today
 Empathy
and
a
Desire
to
feed
the
world!
Can
we
together
help
create
Alberta’s
new
champion

13. Best
Management
PracCce
What
we
are
doing
with
technology
available
today
Built
in
Alberta…

14. Best
Management
PracCce
What
we
are
doing
with
technology
available
today
What
we
are
doing…

19. Grow, Live, Be the Change

20. hhp://www.alltech.com/FutureOfFarming/default.aspx#/?buildingIndex=0

21. 2.
Food
safety,
food
producCon
communicaCon
 record
keeping,
regulaCon
and
traceability
stewardship
 Real
Cme
seamless
communicaCon
 With
variable
rate
technology,
new
regulaCon
and
record
keeping
regulaCon,
there
is
a
dire
need
for
advanced
technical
help
in
the
agricultural
field
 CollaboraCon
necessary,
tecconnect
center
in
Lethbridge
a
superb
example
of
iniCaCng
the
collaboraCon
required

22. 3.
Precision
Agriculture:
Incredible
PotenCal
to
increase
the
Yield
/
Acre!
 The
technology
available
today
 Where
it
can
take
us
tomorrow

23. Field
Variability:
Significance…

24. Variable
Rate
Technology

25. Infra
Red
and
other
sensor
technology
from
satellites

27. Understanding
an
IrrigaCon
Pivot

28. Variable
Rate
IrrigaCon
GIS
and
recipe
referenced

31. A
Potato
Field
2010:
Planted
acres:
128
operaConal
inputs
$2222/ac
Harvested
acres:
80

32. Potato
Fields
2010:
Potato
Fields
2011:
Planted
Acres:
1300
Planted
Acres:
1280
Harvested:
998
(82%)
Harvested:
1097
(87%)
same
inputs
same
inputs

33. Beher
Potato
Fields
–
What
it
needs
to
look
like!

38. Yield
Sept
17th
Picture
late
June
Picture
late
July

39. Yield
esCmate
This
field:
~
20%
-­‐
20
t/ac
or
more
~60%
-­‐
16-­‐19t/ac
~20%
-­‐
<16t/ac
In
short
this
means
we
can
either
increase
the
yield
on
80%
of
the
field
with
Precision
ag
technology,
or
reduce
inputs
accordingly.

40. What
we
can
do
tomorrow,
the
applicaCons…
Tech
support
–
within
Alberta
we
have
an
incredible
opportunity
 Unmanned
Aircraq,
real
data,
real
Cme,
every
day,
real
recipe’s
real
ROI
in
Alberta
 Integrated
data
hub,
replicable
agricultural
and
demographic
W2E
powered
 Smart
Energy
Grid,
ship
data,
not
power
-­‐
Distributed
 Link
the
public
with
their
food,
real
Cme,
real
seamless
 BE
a
Real
sustainable
smart
system,
closed
biosphere
aware
–
We
are
feeding
the
world

41. ICT
link
Precision
AG
Cloud-­‐Enabled
Space
Weather
Modeling
and
Data
AssimilaCon
Plarorm
Water
and
Environmental
Hub
GreenStar
Network
AB
ARD
open
data
Center
network
$ Data
management
er
Hub
OpCc
Fib

42. Yes
I
agree,
Change
happens.
Another
reason
Tweet:
the
stone
age
ended
was
"The
stone
age
didn't
because
humans
end
because
we
ran
out
discovered
farming…

of
stone."
Change
let
us
not
forget…
happens
ready
or
not
Thanks!

43. The
OPPORTUNITY
Collabora'on
with
all
the
right
people
are
in
this
room
to
champion
the
Alberta
/
Canada
Advantage,
be
a
part
of
it
 the
technology
exper9se
and
cyber
infrastructure
presence
 The
Value-­‐add
and
true
example
of
technology
WOW
 The
Rural
Development
and
distributed
wealth
advocate
 The
farmer
with
a
need,
that
recognizes
the
technology
can
help
us
do
be^er,
and
the
technology
people
that
recognize
we
can
help
them
to
achieve
their
goals
with
a
real
applica9on
today
that
helps
build
and
create
a
network
required
for
tomorrow,
with
sustainable
ROI
all
the
way
through!
 Fantas9c
R&D
presence
–
AB
innovates,
the
refreshed
and
inspired
new
provincial
leadership,
the
universi9es
and
colleges,
the
brilliant
youth
Together
Let’s
make
it
happen!

44. Why
make
this
happen?
Grow,
Live,
Be the Change