“We are on a surer footing when it comes to agricultural practices; [using satellite data] safeguards us from climate change, pest and disease, problems with irrigation scheduling,” he said. The Indian government, which just relaxed foreign investment rules for the space sector, is leaning heavily into the use of satellite data to solve problems on the ground, with agriculture a key focus. Cropin, founded in 2010 and backed by Google and the Gates Foundation, recently signed a deal with Amazon Web Services to crunch satellite data to solve for global food insecurity. India has 2,743 agricultural tech start-ups, many of which incorporate satellite data or other space technology. However, there are barriers to large-scale adoption of space technology in agriculture.

Source: Taipei Times May 19, 2024 03:33 UTC