Yap Chee Kong, Al-Mutairi Khalid Awadh
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400 UPM, Selangor, Malaysia.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk P.O. Box 741, Saudi Arabia.
Foods. 2024 Jan 1;13(1):150. doi: 10.3390/foods13010150.
With the expected colonization of human daily life by artificial intelligence, including in industry productivity, the deployment of Industry 4.0 (I4) in the food agriculture industry (FAI) is expected to revolutionize and galvanize food production to increase the efficiency of the industry's production and to match, in tandem, a country's gross domestic productivity. Based on a literature review, there have been almost no direct relationships between the I4-Food-Agriculture (I4FA) Nexus and the agroecosystem. This study aimed to evaluate the state-of-the-art relationships between the I4FA Nexus and the agroecosystem and to discuss the challenges in the sustainable FAI that can be assisted by the I4 technologies. This objective was fulfilled by (a) reviewing all the relevant publications and (b) drawing a conceptual relationship between the I4FA Nexus and the agroecosystem, in which the I4FA Nexus is categorized into socio-economic and environmental (SEE) perspectives. Four points are highlighted in the present review. First, I4 technology is projected to grow in the agricultural and food sectors today and in the future. Second, food agriculture output may benefit from I4 by considering the SEE benefits. Third, implementing I4 is a challenging journey for the sustainable FAI, especially for the small to medium enterprises (SMEs). Fourth, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles can help to manage I4's implementation in agriculture and food. The advantages of I4 deployment include (a) social benefits like increased occupational safety, workers' health, and food quality, security, and safety; (b) economic benefits, like using sensors to reduce agricultural food production costs, and the food supply chain; and (c) environmental benefits like reducing chemical leaching and fertilizer use. However, more studies are needed to address social adaptability, trust, privacy, and economic income uncertainty, especially in SMEs or in businesses or nations with lower resources; this will require time for adaptation to make the transition away from human ecology. For agriculture to be ESG-sustainable, the deployment of I4FA could be an answer with the support of an open-minded dialogue platform with ESG-minded leaders to complement sustainable agroecosystems on a global scale.
随着人工智能有望渗透到人类日常生活中，包括工业生产力领域，食品农业产业（FAI）中工业4.0（I4）的部署有望给食品生产带来变革并激发其活力，以提高该产业的生产效率，并与一个国家的国内生产总值同步增长。基于文献综述，工业4.0与食品农业（I4FA）关系与农业生态系统之间几乎没有直接关联。本研究旨在评估I4FA关系与农业生态系统之间的最新关系，并探讨I4技术可助力的可持续食品农业产业面临的挑战。这一目标通过以下方式实现：（a）回顾所有相关出版物；（b）绘制I4FA关系与农业生态系统之间的概念关系，其中I4FA关系分为社会经济和环境（SEE）视角。本综述突出了四点。第一，预计I4技术在当今及未来的农业和食品领域会有所发展。第二，考虑到SEE效益，食品农业产出可能会从I4中受益。第三，对可持续食品农业产业而言，实施I4是一项具有挑战性的任务，尤其是对中小企业（SMEs）来说。第四，环境、社会和治理（ESG）原则有助于管理I4在农业和食品领域的实施。I4部署的优势包括：（a）社会效益，如提高职业安全、工人健康以及食品质量、安全和保障；（b）经济效益，如使用传感器降低农业食品生产成本以及食品供应链成本；（c）环境效益，如减少化学物质渗漏和化肥使用。然而，需要更多研究来解决社会适应性、信任、隐私以及经济收入不确定性等问题，尤其是在中小企业或资源较少的企业或国家；这需要时间来适应，以实现从人类生态的转变。为使农业实现ESG可持续发展，在具有ESG意识的领导者的开放对话平台的支持下，I4FA的部署可能是一个解决方案，以在全球范围内补充可持续农业生态系统。
