Because the stress on the agricultural sector continues, good useful resource administration and in search of sustainable vitality options may help farmers meet world meals calls for
Agriculture has all the time been the spine of civilisation, however now, as with most different sectors, it faces unprecedented challenges. From feeding a rising world inhabitants in quickly altering climate circumstances, to jostling for most suitable option of land use, the sector is more and more underneath stress to develop into not simply meals producers, however vitality suppliers as nicely. This problem should push us to rethink how we work together with our surroundings and use area and know-how in new and progressive methods.
The important thing to overcoming these challenges is cleverly utilizing the whole lot round us, with out sacrificing meals for gasoline. Collectively, we have to consider every kind of recent methods to seize all of the ‘free’ vitality we will. Can we use cell photo voltaic panels, simply after we want them? Can we flip a parked-up machine right into a cell wind turbine? Can we retailer the rainwater excessive up and run it via a turbine after we want the electrical energy?
“The important thing to overcoming these challenges is cleverly utilizing the whole lot round us, with out sacrificing meals for gasoline”
Renewable vitality
It’s fairly profound, however the largest ‘battery’ within the UK is water, pumped up mountains into massive reservoirs utilizing extra electrical energy. When there’s a spike in demand, the water is launched via generators, and shortly generates gigawatts of electrical energy. One factor we’re blessed (and cursed) with within the UK is rain; think about if we may handle rainwater on farms to each generate electrical energy and irrigate crops.
Equally within the UK one factor they aren’t making extra of is land, which is why it’s essential that we use it in probably the most wise method. On-shore wind offers the chance to co-locate vitality manufacturing with meals manufacturing – utilizing minimal land to create most output, whereas retaining the agricultural footprint for crops.
After all, to the entrepreneurial farmer, none of that is new – the ida of maximising the output of the assets supplied is a each day prevalence. Whether or not that’s via elevated crop yields or through the use of equipment within the optimum strategy to cut back gasoline consumed. In reality, many farmers at present are usually not solely meals producers however vitality producers too, profiting from wind generators and photo voltaic panels.
The challenges and potential of hydrogen
It’s this identical spirit that we try to embody at JCB – to make use of what we now have round us in probably the most wise method, to create actual change sooner or later. Take the JCB hydrogen engine – it’s utilising recognized parts, current manufacturing and engineering know-how and turning it on its head to create one thing brand-new, with actually world- altering potential. What we’d like now’s for a similar spirit to be turned to hydrogen manufacturing and storage – understanding new and inventive methods of manufacturing hydrogen domestically, at low value, and utilizing what we have already got round us.
We should not underestimate the challenges we now face with a rising inhabitants. Eight billion individuals on the planet means extra mouths to feed and extra vitality demanded. However eight billion individuals on the planet additionally means eight billion brains to provide you with progressive and inventive options – our world capability for altering the world round us is immense.
Agriculture has harnessed water, wind and solar to feed the world, now let’s assist farmers use water, wind and solar to energy the world as nicely.
This text first appeared within the October concern of iVT.
