GLOBAL SMART FARMING
GIFT has partnered with the Poznan Supercomputing & Networking Center, an organization who has helped build a collaborative farm optimization and solidarity portal. The focus crop will be the orange-fleshed sweet potato. This technology will enable real time weather, soil and crop monitoring in an effort to maximize sweet potato yields. Our participation with Poznan is one example of how GIFT can help leverage the latest technology -- known as the Internet of Things (IOT) -- to support our partner organizations in creating an independent source of income.
The efficacy of sweet potatoes' food supply in addition to second-generation biomass feedstock can help answer the Pope's recent call to address hunger and water as a human right. Although agriculture consumes 70% of the world's water, OFSP crops require significantly less water than the average commercial crop and can help reduce agriculture's impact on the global water supply. In addition, OFSP starch is a very productive and versatile biomaterial for an array of bioplastics, and can offer a green alternative to fossil fuel-derived plastics. Best of all, the cultivation of the sweet potato and its leaves will create robust local economic development and new jobs.
CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Smart phones, connected devices, online marketplaces, and social media have changed the way we interact with each other, shop, and navigate the world.
While technology has made us more connected overall, it has also placed those who don’t have access to internet connectivity at a significant disadvantage as our world becomes more reliant on digital commerce and communication. This is called the "digital divide", where communities, businesses, schools and families in areas without access to technology are unable to keep up in the modern economic environment. GIFT's Global Smart Farming Initiative helps to close this gap by providing farmers and their communities with dynamic training and smart-farming technology to expand and propel their business into the modern age.
MITIGATING THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Leading scientists predict climate change will have the most significant and detrimental impact on small-shareholder farmers around the globe. By collecting and leveraging data curated by GIFT, farmers can make informed decisions in the face of increasing droughts and natural disasters.