Usage AI and RS in Agriculture 4.0 and the link between sustainability pillars and smart technological development in agri-food.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse artificial intelligence and remote sensing in the agrifood sector. Specifically, their use, and how these two innovations operate in achieving the three pillars of sustainable development. In detail, the first chapter will be devoted to three different topics. It will start with Sustainability, retracing the main steps that led the UN to the definition of the SDGs and sustainable development. Then it will continue with Agriculture 4.0, recalling the historical moments that led to the fourth industrial revolution and approaching for the first time the smart innovations involving the agri-food sector. The final part of the chapter is dedicated to the project work: 'Linking sustainability pillars to smart technological development in agri-food', i.e. a project promoted by the Agrifood lab of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, in which I participated by collaborating with three of my other colleagues and the supervision of a tutor, as well as the four professors who promoted the project. The project, conducted in the first four months of the year, consisted of a thorough literature review with the aim of finding a link between the application of smart technologies in the agri-food sector and the achievement of the SDGs. The second chapter will focus on two smart technologies: artificial intelligence and remote sensing. For both technologies, an overview is given of their definition, peculiarities, and the advantages in the economic, social, and sustainable spheres that their use entails. The third and final chapter was dedicated to interviews with workers, and entrepreneurs, in the agri-food 4.0 sector. The aim was to bring testimonies of how the SDGs were being approached by professionals in the sector and how smart technologies could help in this. For this reason, Italian start-ups were selected and given a written interview. Subsequently, the data was collected and processed to arrive at evidence. These are presented in the final part of the thesis.