In collaboration with McKinsey & Company Space Applications in Agriculture: Enhancing Food and Water Security, Improving Climate Action APRIL 2023 Contents This guide is interactive Look out for this icon for elements that can be interacted with Introduction 3 2 T  echnology is evolving while costs decline, expanding the customer base 1 Satellite technology has multiple applications in agriculture 7 16 3 Opportunity for industry 27 Conclusion 36 Contributors 37 Endnotes 38 Disclaimer This document is published by the World Economic Forum as a contribution to a project, insight area or interaction. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are a result of a collaborative process facilitated and endorsed by the World Economic Forum but whose results do not necessarily represent the views of the World Economic Forum, nor the entirety of its Members, Partners or other stakeholders. © 2023 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system. Images: Getty Images, Unsplash Space Applications in Agriculture: Enhancing Food and Water Security, Improving Climate Action Contents 2 Introduction Impact of space-enabled applications in agriculture The value of space technologies in agriculture is becoming more widely recognized, and will gain greater acceptance in the near future. Adoption of space applications has been historically limited by high costs, low resolutions and limited consumer trust. These barriers are coming down, and applied at full scale, insights from space could address up to 30% of the food gap projected for 2050 by reducing waste, decreasing global freshwater use by 5-10%, lowering agricultural CO2 emissions by up to 50 million tonnes, and shrinking grower costs by 5%. users with trusted, actionable insights. Put most simply, the industry still needs to bring together the right data to develop the right insights at the right time for the right people. Will adoption accelerate, or will the hurdles persist? Informed by industry research and conversations with stakeholders across the agriculture and space industries, this report examines this question. These societal benefits will come hand-in-hand with economic returns: food waste reduction could contribute an additional $150-175 billion in economic value for producers,1 and a 5% cost reduction for growers represents $7-8 billion from input savings alone.2 With such value at stake, the market for space-borne insights in agriculture is projected to nearly double by 2030, reaching almost $1 billion. Examples of satellite technology driving value for agriculture are already visible. Growers today are using aerial and satellite insights to reduce herbicide, fertilizer and water use, and governments are employing satellites to address food security, verify conditional subsidies and reduce food waste. Yet, technical and human-driven hurdles remain. Scaling will require cross-industry collaboration, training algorithms with sufficient ground-truth data, and a clearly defined value proposition for end- Space Applications in Agriculture: Enhancing Food and Water Security, Improving Climate Action Contents 3 FIGURE 1 Satellite applications’ potential to address challenges in agriculture What’s at stake? Insights from satellite imagery can improve the food system and contribute to solutions for… Select the tabs to discover more Food insecurity 4.2bn Tonnes of crops produced worldwide each year1 2.1bn Additional production needed by 20502 $0.4bn Potential crop loss prevented via satellite identification of pests3 Space Applications in Agriculture: Enhancing Food and Water Security, Improving Climate Action Climate action Water availability Global annual crop production for human consumption is estimated at 4.2 billion tonnes, and must increase by a minimum of 50%, or 2.1 billion tonnes, to meet projected 2050 food demand. Identification of early-stage pests, weeds and diseases via hyperspectral and optical imagery shows an ability to prevent crop loss, which today is between 20% and 40% of total production. If applied at scale, up to 0.8 billion tonnes of crops could be salvaged annually. Notes: 1. Excluding animal protein. Source: FAO 2020. 2. M. van Dijk, T. Morley, M.L. Rau et al., “A meta-analysis of projected global food deman