Education
The NRW-USA Parliamentary Group of the state parliament provides a platform for transatlantic exchange. In addition to numerous members of the state parliament, Consul General Kao of the US Consulate in North Rhine-Westphalia also took part in the exchange.
PhenoRob, a cluster of excellence at the University of Bonn in the field of robotics for phenotyping, and Bayer CropScience, a company that also researches agritech solutions with artificial intelligence, robotics and new breeding methods, presented their innovations and relationships in the USA.
Digitalization in agriculture is an important building block for overcoming the many challenges in agriculture, both in plant cultivation and animal husbandry. Digitalization in agriculture brings significant ecological and economic benefits by saving resources such as fertilizers and pesticides. Damage patterns in crops can be detected with the help of AI. Resource-saving agritech solutions can be used to achieve global crop yields that combat hunger and counteract migration. But there are other major challenges ahead, including the fight against plant diseases and pests. Research is already being carried out in this area both in NRW and in the USA and there are active networks and initiatives.
Innovations in the agritech sector have the potential to increase crop yields worldwide and make agriculture more sustainable. Close cooperation between companies, research institutions and political decision-makers is essential in order to take advantage of the opportunities offered by transatlantic free trade and achieve common goals for a sustainable future. The message of the breakfast was clear: innovation needs political support, good regulation and data collection.
The event in the NRW state parliament was an important and successful sign of the importance of close transatlantic cooperation in the agritech sector.
