Digital twins: the secret to resilient farming
Climate Pressures: A New Reality for Global Agriculture
Global farming now confronts a double‑burden of environmental hazards and a surge in demand for food.
Recent Heat Events Shaped the Landscape
- 2024 – Recorded the hottest year on Earth, setting a new temperature benchmark.
- 2022 – India and Pakistan experienced record spring heat, with temperatures exceeding 45 °C (113 °F) and dramatic crop losses.
- 2021 – North America was hit by a heat dome that disrupted planting and harvesting schedules.
- 2018‑2020 – Europe endured successive droughts and heatwaves, stressing many staple crops.
Unexpected Floods and Hurricanes Amplified the Crisis
- Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck in 2024, damaging coastal farms and irrigation systems.
- The U.S. river floods of 2019 caused widespread agricultural damage, cutting yields across several states.
Economic Costs: A Billion‑Dollar Toll
While the U.S. agricultural system benefits from cutting‑edge technologies and rich resources, the total losses in a single year exceeded $20 billion.
Why This Matters: The Need for Resilient Farming Systems
Exploring every extreme weather event is not the goal of this piece – the focus is the scale of the challenge and the vital importance of a climate‑resilient farming model.
Digital Twins: A Pivotal Innovation
Integrating digital twins into farming practices offers a promising pathway to resilience. These virtual replicas simulate real‑world fields, enabling precision management and proactive adaptation to climate stresses.
Summary: Building a Secure Future
Strengthening food security hinges on adopting climate resilience, applying advanced AgTech solutions, and incorporating sustainable practices. Digital twins stand out as a technology that can transform how farmers respond to the escalating climate threat.
Digital twins and their role in agriculture
Digital Twins for Precision Agriculture
A digital twin is a data-enabled replica of a physical entity that operates within the context of its real counterpart. It allows for accurate predictive modeling and realistic scenario evaluation.
Application in Farming
Researchers and farmers use digital twins to simulate farm conditions, including crop performance, irrigation, and nutrition. They test theoretical strategies before field implementation.
Data Integration
Digital twins combine historical big data with real-time data collected via sensors, satellite, drone imagery, and other high-tech devices. This integration creates predictive models that support smarter, data-based decisions for precision agriculture and sustainability.
Research and Field Trials
Digital twins accelerate research by shortening timescales, reducing trial costs, and expanding trial scope. A new AgTech solution can shorten a decade-long market journey, offering game-changing benefits to growers.
Field Trial Management
“Advanced field trial management systems enable growers to increase yields, reduce waste, and produce more profitable food with less land,” says Ron Baruchi, CEO of Agmatix, an ICL Group AgTech digital start-up.
Data Standardization
Access to high-quality, standardized data is crucial for accurate digital twins. With standardized data flows, twins can deliver integrated, farmer-friendly crop input models that balance yields, sustainability, and profitability.
Impact on Resilience and Food Security
Digital twins are emerging as a transformational technology with substantial impact on resilience and food security.
How do digital twins work at the field level?
Digital Twins: Transforming Farm Operations
Revamping Irrigation Practices
The integration of soil moisture sensors with weather datasets and evapotranspiration models inside a digital twin framework enables farmers to distribute water in a manner that mirrors real crop demand. This precise water allocation not only reduces operating costs, but also safeguards environmental resources. Farmers can pinpoint field zones where moisture levels deviate, allowing for targeted adjustments.
Adapting to Pest and Disease Dynamics
Climate change necessitates a continuous evolution of pest and disease strategies. Digital twins tap into archival outbreak data tied to specific climatic triggers and merge it with real‑time pest surveillance, weather updates, and crop projections. This synergy alerts growers to heightened risk zones and equips them to act before threats materialize.
Planning Proactive Countermeasures
Beyond early warning, digital twins run predictive simulations that assess outcomes of custom biological and chemical interventions. By optimizing timing, targeting, and delivery of these measures, farmers can thwart crop losses at the field level. This proactive planning protects livelihoods, bolsters food security, and respects environmental constraints while meeting consumer demand for healthier produce.
A new culture of agriculture resilience
Breaking Through: Digital Twins Are Driving Climate‑Resilient Farming
Why Digital Twins Matter to Agriculture
- Real‑time crop simulation lets farmers model field trials before sowing.
- Predictive analytics help optimize irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticide use.
- Digital twins serve as both a research laboratory for new AgTech solutions and a daily tool for farmers.
Trends Shaping the Future of Farming
- Farmer‑friendly mobile apps allow farmers to access twin data on smartphones.
- Integration of digital twins into mainstream agriculture is expected to be a top priority over the next decade.
- Expected outcomes include higher yields, more efficient resource use, and greater resilience to extreme weather events.
What’s On the Horizon?
- Enhanced resource allocation for water and nutrients.
- Increased resilience to heat waves, drought, and heavy rainfall.
- Less reliance on traditional, guess‑based farmer decision‑making.
By harnessing digital twins, the global agricultural system is moving closer to a climate‑resilient, sustainable future.
