A number of global trends are influencing food security, poverty, and the overall sustainability of food and agricultural systems. Roughly 800 million people worldwide suffer from hunger, and under a business-as-usual scenario, 8 percent of the world’s population (or 650 million) will still be undernourished by 2030. The reality is that very little innovation has taken place in the industry of late—in any case, nothing to indicate that food scarcity and hunger will not be an issue in the coming decades.

To meet these challenges will require a concerted effort by agriculturists, governments, investors, and innovative agricultural technologies. Agriculture 4.0 will no longer depend on applying water, fertilizers, and pesticides uniformly across entire fields. Instead, farmers will use the minimum quantities required and target very specific areas. Farms and agricultural operations will have to be run very differently, primarily due to advancements in technology such as sensors, devices, machines, and information technology. To add onto that agriculturist need to diversify their areas of operations into other subsectors of agriculture.