The document outlines 5 predictions for advances in food and agriculture technology within the next 5 years, including creating digital twins of farms to optimize resources, using AI and sensors to map food supply chains and detect foodborne pathogens, recycling plastic waste through a new catalytic process, and analyzing microbiomes to improve food safety. The predictions are supported by descriptions of IBM's research in areas like geospatial analytics, blockchain for agriculture, and food supply chain monitoring.

1. 1
http://www.research.ibm.com/5-in-5/
Pietro Leo
Executive Architect - Artificial Intelligence thought Leader
Chief Scientist for IBM Italy Research & Business
IBM Academy of Technology Leadership
Member of ISO/SC42 Artificial Intelligence Standardization Committee
2019

2. IBM Research 5 in 5
2019 Edition

3. 3
Seed
Harvest
Shelf
Plate
Trash
FOOD

4. 4
Plastic Recycling
Dinner plate
detectives
Spoiler alert
Digital Farm
Microbiome
Analysis

5. 5
#twinning:
Farming's digital
doubles will help
feed a growing
population using
less resources
Digital Farm

6. 6
Creating a digital twin or a
“virtual model” of the world’s
farms could help ready
agriculture for new challenges
by democratizing farm data,
allowing those in agriculture to
share insights, research, and
materials, and communicate
data on farmland and crop
growth across the planet, and
connect and cross-reference
with the food supply chain.
Digital Farm

7. 7
Preliminary scientific evidences
https://ibmpairs.mybluemix.net/
IBM PAIRS Geoscope
IBM PAIRS GEOSCOPE is a
platform, specifically designed for
massive geospatial-temporal
data (maps, satellite, weather,
drone, IoT), query and analytics
services. It frees up data
scientists, developers from the
cumbersome processes that
dominate conventional
geospatial-temporal data
acquisition and preparation and
provides search-friendly ready
access to a rich, diverse, and
growing catalog of historical and
continuously updated geospatial-
temporal information

8. 8
Preliminary scientific evidences
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2018/08/safe-water-kenya/
Groundwater extraction pattern analysis
IBM scientists in Nairobi, Kenya
are developing technology that
would allow sensors to provide
supply and demand patterns
based on groundwater extraction
data. It could help service
providers significantly reduce their
non-revenue water -- water that is
“lost” before it reaches the
customer through leaks, theft, or
metering inaccuracies.
Any excess water could then be
given back to the farmers
responsible for growing that
region’s food. This research is part
of an overall effort to connect
potable water sources around the
planet to the cloud.

9. 9https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2018/12/hello-tractor/
In Africa and parts of Asia, Agtech
startup Hello Tractor is connecting
small-scale farmers to equipment and
data analytics to increase crop yields
and access to financial services. Hello
Tractor is teaming with IBM
researchers in Kenya to extend its
mobile platform with technologies
including the Watson Decision Platform
for Agriculture, blockchain, and IBM
Cloud. The idea is to create a digital
wallet that enables data to be captured,
tracked, and shared instantly across
parties involved in the agribusiness
value chain including financial
institutions to help farmers gain access
to credit.
Hello Tractor
Preliminary scientific evidences

10. 10
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2018/09/smarter-farms-agriculture/
IBM Watson Decision Platform for
Agriculture
A platform that combines data, satellites,
mobile phones and sensors with AI
capabilities to collect and analyze
unstructured, visual data about agricultural
land use, from soil chemistry and water
supplies, to crop diseases, equipment
usage and availability, impending
rainstorms, heat waves, and cold streaks -
all to deliver on the promise of improved
food quality and safety.
• Yield History and Forecast for Corn
• Disease & Pest Indicators for Corn
• High Definition Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index (HD-NDVI) for Crop Health Monitoring
• High Definition Soil Moisture (HD-SM)
Hello Tractor
Preliminary scientific evidences

11. 11
Spoiler alert:
Blockchain
will prevent
more food
from going to
waste.
Spoiler alert

12. 12
Within five years, we’ll
eliminate many of the costly
unknowns in the food supply
chain. From farmers to grocery
suppliers, each participant in
the food ecosystem will know
exactly how much to plant,
order, and ship. Loss will
diminish greatly and the
produce that ends up in our
carts will be fresher—when
blockchain technology, IoT
devices, and AI algorithms join
forces. Spoiler alert

13. 13
https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/solutions/food-trust
Launched in October 2018, the
IBM Food Trust is a highly secure
digital ledger that utilizes
blockchain technology to connect
every member of the food supply
chain through accurate, shared
information. It’s the first and only
network of its kind—and within five
years, it has the potential to
transform our food ecosystem.
IBM researchers are also working
on taking blockchain to the next
level by combining it with IoT
sensors and AI algorithms, making
seed-to-plate food tracking more
accurate and reliable.
IBM Food Trust and Blockchain
Preliminary scientific evidences

14. 14
Mapping the
microbiome
will protect
us from bad
bacteria.
Microbiome Analysis

15. 15
Within five years, food safety
inspectors around the world will
gain a new superpower: the ability
to understand how millions of
microbes coexist within the food
supply chain. These microbes—
some healthy for human
consumption, others not—are
everywhere –in foods at farms,
factories, and grocery stores.
The ability to constantly and
cheaply monitor the behaviors of
microbes at every stage of the
supply chain represents a huge
leap in food safety. Microbiome Analysis

16. 16
Preliminary scientific evidences
https://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view_group.php?id=9635
By sequencing the genomes of the
microbiome, or community of microbes,
present in the food we eat, IBM
researchers as well as partnering
organizations like Mars, Inc., Bio-Rad, and
Cornell University are turning the corner to
a new and more predictive kind of food
testing.
This new regimen may allow inspectors to
identify dangerous pathogens inhabiting
food with better sensitivity well before they
make anyone sick.
This rapidly evolving field at the
intersection of big data and microbiology is
built upon the technology of next
generation sequencing (NGS), which
researchers are using to amass an
unprecedented reference database of
genomes through an IBM-led partnership
called the Consortium for Sequencing the
Food Supply Chain.
Consortium for Sequencing the Food Supply Chain
Preliminary scientific evidences

17. 17
Dinner plate
detectives: AI
sensors will
detect
foodborne
pathogens at
home. Dinner plate
detectives

18. 18
Within five years, the world’s
farmers, food processors,
and grocers—along with its
billions of home cooks—will
be able to detect dangerous
contaminants effortlessly in
their food. All they’ll need is a
cell phone or a countertop
with AI sensors.
Dinner plate
detectives

19. 19
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2018/05/ai-authentication-verifier/
IBM Research is currently creating
bacteria-detecting sensors that would be
a next-generation extension of IBM’s
Crypto Anchor Verifier. This optical
device, which is currently being tested by
businesses from drug stores to
construction companies, uses AI and
machine learning techniques to analyze
microscopic features and “read” the
wavelengths emitted by different
substances and objects.
After scanning a material, a verifier
records its unique wavelength and
microscopic details on the blockchain,
comparing its fingerprint to that of other
identical substances. Soon, we’ll be able
to stop them in sub-seconds
IBM's Next-generation Crypto Anchor Verifier
Preliminary scientific evidences

20. 20
A radical new
recycling
process will
breathe new
life into old
plastic.
Plastic Recycling

21. 21
In five years, the disposal of
trash and the creation of new
plastics will be completely
transformed. Everything from
milk cartons and cookie
containers to grocery bags and
clothing will be recyclable, and
polyester manufacturing
companies will be able to take
in refuse and turn it into
something useful again.
Plastic Surgery

22. 22
Preliminary scientific evidences
http://www.research.ibm.com/5-in-5/trash/
IBM researchers have discovered a a
catalytic chemical process that digests
certain plastics (called polyesters) into a
substance which can be fed directly back
into plastic manufacturing machines in
order to make new products. VolCat
begins by heating PET and ethylene
glycol in a reactor with the catalyst. After
depolymerization is complete, the
catalyst is recovered by distillation from
the reactor using the heat of reaction.
The solution is filtered, purified, and then
cooled, and the solid monomer product is
recovered by filtration. The recovered
liquid, along with the catalyst, is then
reintroduced into the depolymerization
reactor in an energy-efficient cycle.
Volatile Catalyst (VolCat)
Preliminary scientific evidences

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24. 24
http://www.research.ibm.com/5-in-5/
Pietro Leo
Executive Architect - Artificial Intelligence thought Leader
Chief Scientist for IBM Italy Research & Business
IBM Academy of Technology Leadership
Member of ISO/SC42 Artificial Intelligence Standardization Committee
@pieroleo
www.pieroleo.com