{"id":13313,"date":"2016-11-04T17:34:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/planet-labs-a-satellite-startup-takes-a-flight-to-feed-the-world\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T17:34:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:34:34","slug":"planet-labs-a-satellite-startup-takes-a-flight-to-feed-the-world","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/planet-labs-a-satellite-startup-takes-a-flight-to-feed-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Planet Labs: A Satellite Startup Takes a Flight to Feed the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let Them Eat\u2026 What?<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the world\u2019s farmers will need to produce 70% more food (relative to 2006 levels) to meet the demand of 9.2 billion people projected to inhabit the planet by 2050.[1<\/a>] Further intensifying this pressure is global climate change. Extreme weather events like droughts and flooding, and long-term changes such as rising sea levels are damaging crop yields and shortening growing cycles. Production levels are already flattening, with yield plateaus, or even abrupt drops in yield gain, among 31% of total global rice, wheat and maize production.[2<\/a>] As most of the land suitable for farming is already farmed, incremental food production globally must come from higher yields.[1<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Getting \u201cSmarter\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

But fear not, the \u201cit\u201d technology of the day, namely Internet of Things, has come to the industry\u2019s aid. Smart farming aims to make existing arable land more \u201cintelligent\u201d through an amalgamation of connected technologies, such as[3<\/a>]:<\/p>\n