Quantum Technology in Agriculture
- (The University of Chicago - Alvin Wei-Cheng Wong)
- Overview
With concerns about food shortages and world hunger, many in the agriculture industry are looking to harness next-generation technologies like quantum computing to help solve these problems.
Since agriculture has already used technology in the past, from automotive machinery like tractors to computer simulations of crop yields, it may not be difficult to adopt quantum computing in the future.
Quantum technology has emerged as a transformative tool that could revolutionize agriculture. Quantum sensing and computing provide superior detection sensitivity and data processing capabilities compared to traditional methods.
Quantum technology's unique ability to process data faster than traditional computers gives it the potential to improve agriculture.
- The Applications of Quantum Technology in Agriculture
Quantum computing enables sensors to undertake more precise crop health and growth measurements, leading to better decision-making by farmers. Quantum sensors leverage the fundamental properties of light and atoms to measure crops' health and growth accurately.
Quantum technology has the potential to improve agriculture in many ways, including:
- Crop health and growth: Quantum sensors can use the properties of light and atoms to more accurately measure crop health and growth, which can help farmers make better decisions.
- Land fertility: Variational quantum algorithms (VQC) can speed up and improve the accuracy of land fertility assessments.
- Farming operations: Quantum-enabled precision agriculture can increase the efficiency of farming operations and improve farmers' livelihoods.
- Molecular processes
- Quantum computing can help understand complex molecular processes, which could lead to more efficient and less carbon-intensive farming processes, like fertilizer production.
- Weather forecasts: Quantum technology could improve field monitoring and provide more accurate weather forecasts.
- Genetic variance: Quantum computing could help the agricultural industry deal with genetic variance in crop breeds.
- The Challenges of Combining Quantum and Agriculture
While quantum computing may bring some significant benefits, it also comes with costs. In principle, the goal of permaculture is to heal and enhance the health of all components of the system – namely the natural farming environment, the humans involved, and the food produced.
It would be great if quantum computing could bring benefits, but we are not looking to find uses for the technology itself because that is not our goal. Furthermore, one of the challenges facing food production is that technology is replacing humans and natural processes to the point where we lose our very essence as humans – depending on what the purpose of our existence was thought to be in the first place.
This becomes an existential and ethical question. Because farmers are often heirs to agricultural businesses, they have strong emotional ties to their farms, a bond that could be threatened by this new technology.
[More to come ...]
