Review of digital technologies in agriculture as a factor that removes the growth limits to human civilization

Abstract

According to Meadows' model, the main factor that determines the limits to the growth of the human civilization is the agricultural sector of the planet, the latter, however, significantly pollutes the environment and togather with other factors contributes much to global warming. A half of all the habitable land is used for agriculture. Unless the efficiency of agriculture is fundamentally improved and the amount of waste generated as a result, is reduced, a global catastrophe may befall in 30–50 years. Whereas agrarian “garbage” may not be just the waste that pollutes the environment, it can decrease the burden on the environment by being the raw material for fertilizers, feed or fuel manufacturing. Modern digital technologies can improve the efficiency of agriculture, organize low-waste or non-waste production and that will enable people to diminish the pollution of the environment and push away the limits to the growth of human civilization. The developed countries are using digital technologies more and more intensively to increase agricultural productivity and, at the same time, reduce both environmental pollution with agricultural waste and disruption of the ecological balance. The digitalization of agricultural business, the use of geoinformation technologies, drones, robots, artificial intelligence and other technologies of the digital society help to push the limits to the growth of human civilization away into the future.