By: Siobhan Archer, Global Stewardship Lead, LGT Wealth Management

In the ever-evolving landscape of agriculture and energy, the fusion of artificial intelligence (AI) and nature promises transformative solutions to complex challenges.

With a surge in interest around technological solutions, particularly in the Direct Air Capture (DAC) and carbon capture space, but also a growing range of biotech solutions, it’s crucial investors entering this sphere recognise the intrinsic value of nature.

Across millennia, ecosystems have perfected intricate mechanisms for pollination, cultivation, and resource management, far surpassing our current technological prowess. While AI holds huge promise in augmenting these natural processes, we must approach innovation with caution and humility, acknowledging nature as the ultimate architect of sustainability.

Robotic bees and AI on farms

Every year, we are confronted with powerful and frightening facts around bee populations nearing extinction and the risks associated with losing the pollinating services they provide. In the UK, the cost to farmers of pollinating their crops would be roughly £1.8 billion. The latest WWF and Buglife report showed that 17 species of bee in East England have already become regionally extinct.

However, in the agricultural domain, we are beginning to see exciting initiatives like BloomX and Arugga harness AI to optimise pollination processes, enhancing efficiency and yield. Robotic bees truly sound like something from the future, but they are now being used to pollinate blueberries and avocados in South America and, closer to home, in tomato plants in greenhouses in the UK. These robotic bees use different types of pollination techniques, from electric charges to carry pollen from one flower to another, through to vibration, which mimics the natural motion of a bumblebee to release pollen.

Credit: Aleksandr Rybalk/Shutterstock

RoboRoyale is another interesting project supported by EU funding, which aims to support honeybee queens by combining natural bees with micro-robotic bees which perform support functions like feeding the queen, grooming and cleaning as well as facilitating pheromone transfers from the queen through advanced machine-learning feedback loops. This combination of robots and natural bees exemplifies AI’s potential to bolster natural ecosystems where bee populations are struggling to thrive without intervention. Of course, as we deploy AI in beekeeping, researchers must tread carefully, recognising that bees’ intricate social structures and behaviours defy replication by machines.

In addition to pollination, AI plays a large role in both weed control and livestock monitoring: AI-driven solutions like LaserWeeder and CattleEye offer sustainable alternatives to conventional practices. LaserWeeder uses high precision cameras and pattern recognition to distinguish between weeds and crops (throughout various growing stages). This system removes the need for herbicides, drastically cutting the levels of chemicals used in the farming process, as well as leaving the soil undistributed through laser removal of the unwanted species.

Credit: Karlos West/Shutterstock

AI can also be used in the rearing of livestock. CattleEye is a UK-based company that offers autonomous livestock monitoring which can increase cattle welfare through mobility monitoring, identifying which cows need hoof-trimming or intervention and real-time weight and feeding metrics. Through the sound management of their herd, CattleEye can help farmers highlight any interventions early, avoiding lameness in cows which in turn incurs savings in both cost and carbon emissions per cow.

The applications in the farming and agricultural space go beyond this, with huge innovation around the use of AI in vertical farms to optimise water and light, and temperature efficiencies, as well as in precision agriculture by combining satellite, sensor and drone data to create a more holistic picture. Weather forecasting and the application of AI will also be a large deterrent and adaptation play for farmland investors as they look to mitigate against the rise of extreme weather events. It is well-known that the farming sector is in need of a green revolution, could AI be the missing puzzle piece?

Can AI help the UK reach a resilient energy future?

In September 2023, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came out with some disappointing rollbacks around net zero, pushing back the deadline for the combustion engine phaseout, slowing the uptake of heat pumps, among others. However, the PM did hit the nail on the head when it came to the UK grid infrastructure… it isn’t ready for net zero.

The National Grid estimates that five times as many high voltage transmission lines will need to be installed before 2030, requiring up to £54 billion in investments. [1] Energy demands are escalating: electricity currently forms 20% of our global energy usage but, modelling for 2050, this is estimated to be closer to 40% of our energy demand.

Credit: Fly and Dive/Shutterstock

To meet net zero, Britain’s total electricity generation capacity will have to rise from about 104 gigawatts today to 248 gigawatts by 2035. Growing our infrastructure is therefore key to ensure we do not encounter capacity shortfalls.

Smart grids and AI form part of the solution to these problems. A smart grid is an electricity network that uses digital technologies to monitor and manage the transport of electricity from all generations sources to meet the varying electricity demands of end users.

Smart grids work by using everything from smart meters installed in people’s homes through to automated grid management and metering on field to optimise energy demand and supply and ensure consistent flows.

AI offers a much higher level of precision. IBM, for example, has combined self-learning weather models, datasets of historical weather data, cloud info from satellite imagery and sky cameras to boost accuracy of forecasting – this has been in the works since 2015. Smart grids have strong environmental benefits – the AI solutions could be used to turn off unused appliances when power is expensive or switch on solar energy when energy is cheap and abundant. Players like E.On are now even calculating meta forecasts and seeing how much wind will be experienced at wind farms; from this they can react ahead of time in the event of shortage or surplus of wind energy. Powering grids using AI can also help synchronise wind turbines and align them optimally with wind, ensuring asset optimisation.

However, it’s not just the UK looking to upgrade its infrastructure. The European Commission had a “digitalisation of the energy system” plan as part of the EU Action Plan, with an expected €584 billion investment into this technology facelift up until 2030.  Elsewhere, China plans to modernise its power grids with a $ 442 billion from 2021-2025 and India launched a $38 billion dollar scheme in 2022 to support power distribution infrastructure. Across the Atlantic, the US has a Grid Resilience Innovative Partnership Programmes (GRIP) with funding opportunity of $10.5 billion. Much of this came because of the 2021 Texan power cuts and blackout, which left hundreds of thousands without power in freezing temperatures. A stark reminder of how fragile our networks are.

Embracing AI without losing sight of nature

The case for bringing AI in to enhance and enable natural processes is exciting. AI clearly presents itself as an adaptation play when it comes to many of the challenges we are facing from climate change. Amidst the allure of AI-driven innovations, however, investors should remain prudent and prioritise holistic sustainability by embracing the symbiotic relationship between technology and nature. Companies pioneering AI in agriculture and energy offer promising avenues for investment, provided they can align with principles of ecological stewardship and resilience.

 

LGT Wealth Management in brief

LGT Wealth Management UK LLP (“LGT Wealth Management”) is a UK-based wealth management partnership which provides a comprehensive range of investment management, wealth planning and private investment office services. LGT Wealth Management employs over 650 staff and has offices in London, Jersey, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester. www.lgtwm.com

 

LGT in brief

LGT Wealth Management is part of LGT Group, a leading international private banking and asset management group that has been fully controlled by the Liechtenstein Princely Family for over 90 years. As at 31 December 2023, LGT Group managed assets of CHF 316 billion (USD 375.6 billion) for wealthy private individuals and institutional clients. LGT employs over 5600 people who work out of more than 30 locations in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia and the Middle East. www.lgt.com

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/08/uk-green-energy-projects-in-limbo-as-grid-struggles-to-keep-pace