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From Seed to Recycling: IBM Innovations Will Transform the Supply Chain in the Next Five Years

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Discover the 5 innovations from IBM Mexico that will change the world in the next 5 years, from maximizing agricultural yield to avoiding food waste with blockchain technology.

Today IBM Mexico presented, hand in hand, the 5 innovations that will change the world in the next 5 years.

 In five years, the Earth's population will reach more than eight billion and the planet does not have the resources to sustain that entire population if it continues like this.

Our complex food chainAlready stressed by climate change and a limited water supply, it will suffer even more. To meet the demands of this overcrowded future, we will need new technologies and scientific advancements in food safety and security.

This is why IBM researchers around the world are already working on five solutions at each link in the food chain. From helping farmers maximize crop yields, curbing foodborne illness, to ways to reuse plastic.

“With these 5 innovations, IBM confirms its commitment to the development of technology for humanity, to attack health and environmental problems in the world. Thus, help the farmer to maximize his yield, the consumer to prevent diseases and the environment to reuse plastic" assured Eduardo Gutiérrez, General Manager of IBM Mexico.

Here is a summary of the innovations IBM scientists are developing

Agriculture's digital doubles will help feed a growing population using fewer resources

By the end of the century the population of the earth will increase by 45%, while arable land will decrease by 20% 

To help feed a growing population using resources less and more efficiently, IBM researchers are creating a virtual model of the field, i.e. a DIGITAL DOUBLE or DigitalTwin.

Within the next five years, using artificial intelligence we will be able to use this data to accurately forecast crop yields. To help farmers make better decisions, Double Digital combines data, satellites, mobile and sensors with artificial intelligence capabilities to collect and analyze unstructured visual data on agricultural land use, from soil chemistry and water supply to crop diseases, equipment use and availability, impending storms, heat waves and cold; all to fulfill the promise of improving food quality and safety.

Blockchain will prevent more food from being wasted 

A third of the food produced in the world is wasted before it is consumed.

According to figures from the Bank of Mexico, in the country around 20.4 million tons of food are wasted per year

Five years from now, we will eliminate many of the costly unknowns in the food supply chain. Blockchain allows food to be traced from the farm to the supermarket, and it will use that information to predict the products consumers will want and at what exact time they will want them.

From farmers to supermarket vendors, every participant in the food ecosystem will know exactly how much to plant, order and ship. Food loss will decrease dramatically, farmers will increase crop yields, and products that end up in consumers' carts will be fresher and on those seasonal foods  are more nutritious.

Grow club: Mapping the microbiome will protect us from bad bacteria

Annually foodborne illness has a medical cost of 9 billion dollars

Five years from now, food safety inspectors around the world will acquire a new tool: the ability to use millions of microbes to protect what we eat. IBM researchers are combined big data and microbiology, to compile a huge database of genomes.

These microbes, some healthy for human consumption and some not, are regularly introduced into food that leaves farms, factories and supermarkets.

The ability to monitor microbe behaviors at each stage of the supply chain, constantly and at low cost, represents a huge leap forward in preventing foodborne illnesses and enhancing those that are beneficial.

Dish Detectives: Artificial Intelligence Sensors Will Detect Foodborne Pathogens in the Home

Salmonellosis is one of the most common and widespread foodborne diseases. According to the WHO, it affects tens of millions of people around the world annually and causes more than one hundred thousand deaths.

Five years from now, the world's farmers, food processors, and grocery stores, along with billions of home cooks, will be able to effortlessly detect dangerous contaminants in their food. All they need is a cell phone or a table with artificial intelligence sensors. Researchers at IBM are creating powerful, portable AI sensors that can detect foodborne pathogens anytime and anywhere they may appear.

The sensors will work through an application of smartphone and in this way detect bacteria approximately 75 times smaller than a human hair, allowing all links in the food chain, including consumers, to detect the existence of bacteria such as harmful E. coli or Salmonella before it becomes an outbreak.

'Plastic surgery': a radical new recycling process will give new life to old plastic

Each year, 8 million tons of plastic are dumped into the sea. By 2050, it is projected that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

In five years, garbage disposal and the creation of new plastics will be completely transformed. Everything from milk cartons to containers, food bags and plastic packaging (PET) already existing, can be reused.

All thanks to VolCat, a catalytic chemical process that digests certain plastics (called polyesters) into a substance that can be returned directly to plastic manufacturing machines.

Unlike traditional mechanical recycling, the plastics recycling of the future will break down both clear and colored plastics, as well as dirty and clean containers, to produce a high-quality end product that is 100% recyclable.

For those at home, future advances in recycling will mean that used containers, wrappers, or plastics no longer need to be sorted, rinsed, and separated.

Frequently asked questions from our readers:

IBM innovations that will transform every stage of the supply chain over the next five years include the use of technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain. These technologies will allow greater visibility and traceability of products, optimization of logistics and inventory management, as well as reducing costs and increasing efficiency throughout the supply chain. Read more here: https://www.equilibriumx.com/tendencias/de-la-semilla-al-reciclaje-como-las-innovaciones-de-ibm-transformaran-cada-etapa-de-la-cadena-de- supply-within-the-next-five-years
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Last modified: March 22, 2024