What if you came to discover the latest innovations and research projects designed to improve the daily lives of farmers? It will be at SIMA 2017, the world's leading trade fair for suppliers to agriculture and livestock, from 26 February to 2 March 2017 in Paris Nord Villepinte.
Ahe SIMA is recognized as a true laboratory of ideas, bringing together in a single location the various events focusing on innovation to imagine the agriculture of tomorrow. Held every two years since its creation in 1922, SIMA has grown steadily to become a key agricultural event throughout the world. At a time when the sector is facing major challenges, the next SIMA is intended to be pragmatic, oriented towards concrete solutions to meet the current concerns of the agricultural world.
SIMA 2017 will be placed under the theme "Being a farmer in 10 years", which will be approached around four main themes:
The digital The digital age: Digital technology, and the resulting explosion in data volumes, will have an impact on business skills within companies in the agricultural sector.
Will farmers become "data producers", inevitably transforming the very essence of their profession?
The Bioeconomy In search of a new economic model: On the one hand, the globalization of markets and price volatility are pushing many farmers to look for new approaches and new sources of income.
On the other hand, the concept of the bio-economy is seen as a way to address issues of resource renewability. Will farmers become their own energy producers?
Robotics Will there still be a driver in the tractor? Robotics is entering farms through livestock robots, and is developing in other sectors. And this development is accelerating. Will robots replace current tractors and agricultural machinery?
Genomics : Varietal and animal selection at the time of the Big Data. The development of agriculture is closely linked to progress in genetics, both for variety creation and animal selection. The development of new genomics and phenotyping tools makes it possible to improve the detailed knowledge of the genome, to obtain significant time savings in selection schemes and to diversify the traits selected. But does the Big Data have other approaches in store that will prefigure the tools of tomorrow?
Illustration of the agriculture of the future,1962
The 2017 theme "Being a farmer in 10 years" will also present a 360° vision of the farming profession and will also be pragmatic, with contributions from all horizons, going beyond agriculture: Aeroposace Valley, the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA), engineering schools in six countries...
SIMA will be an innovative event in 2017 with, in particular, the Start-up Village, bringing together young companies from the digital world; the API-AGRO Hackathon: 48 hours to create innovative applications related to agriculture; the Agreen'Startup, the startup competition to reinvent agriculture; and a large number of innovations presented by exhibitors. Nearly 600 new products were presented at the show and more than 120 entries were submitted for the SIMA Innovation Awards: initiatives that demonstrate the determination of an entire sector to innovate in order to stand out from the crowd.
A few examples :
A military exoskeleton to carry out agricultural work, by the Saclay atomic energy commissioner's office (CEA Tech List) Objective: to reduce the drudgery of work. The exoskeleton enables heavy loads to be carried, either on the back or on the arms, and is also used to amplify efforts.
As part of Open Innovation, two exoskeleton prototypes will be tested at SIMA.
An autonomous tractor to relieve the workload, by Case IH A concrete example of the complete robotization of crop operations, relieving the burden on farmers during peak periods. It is based both on advances in remote guidance and telemetry systems, and on the Isobus standard for data sharing and fine crop management.
A robot for mechanical weeding, by Naïo Technologies (start-up) Automatic guidance, precision work, lightness to combat soil compaction, regular hoeing avoiding the use of chemicals... Robots have invested the agricultural sector and are revolutionising the daily life of farmers.
A drone to measure crop growth, by AIRINOV (start-up) More than 8,000 French farmers are already using drone agricultural advice via AIRINOV, which gives them a better knowledge of their farms and their land. This dynamic is now spreading to the field of agronomic research.
Some highlights on the theme "Being a farmer in 10 years".
The INNOVATION FIRST gallery
SIMA 2017 will take a forward-looking look at the profession of farmer through the theme "Being a farmer in 10 years", which will be approached around 4 main themes:
- The digital age: farming professions in the digital age.
- Robotics: will there still be a driver in the tractor?
- The bio-economy: in search of a new economic model.
- Genomics: plant and animal breeding in the age of Big Data.
An ideas laboratory, a project incubator, a focus on the future..., this theme will be reflected in several highlights at the show:
- the Prospective Space, where scenarios imagined by professional organizations, both agricultural and non-agricultural, will be presented;
- projects from French and international engineering schools presenting the results of the reflections of students from the participating schools;
- portraits of innovative French and international farmers ;
- the Innovation Gallery, showcase of the SIMA Innovation Awards 2017 ;
- the Open Innovation: anti-roll quad simulator and exoskeleton.
The SIMA Innovation Awards
An internationally recognized competition, the SIMA Innovation Awards reward the most innovative equipment, products, techniques and services presented by SIMA exhibitors. This year, the jury, chaired by Jean-Marc Bournigal, selected 25 products: 2 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 18 citations.
API-AGRO HACKATHON
48 hours to create innovative applications related to agriculture.
The API-AGRO platform was set up by ACTA (Les Instituts Techniques Agricoles) with the aim of improving interoperability and data exchange around agriculture, and to facilitate the evaluation of agricultural systems. On the occasion of SIMA, API-AGRO is organizing its first Hackathon: several teams of encoders associated with professionals from the agricultural sector (groups of farmers, engineers, consultants, technicians, trainers, researchers) will have 48 hours to create a convincing prototype. They will be guided by expert mentors in the sectors of agriculture, agro-industry, computer science...
The projects will be presented before a jury at SIMA 2017.
Sunday 26 February - Afternoon
The startup village
In partnership with La Ferme Digitale, the Start-up Village will bring together young companies presenting solutions in line with a rapidly changing agricultural sector. It will also host 7 workshops proposed by La Ferme Digitale, allowing discussions on current topics and opportunities in the sector, such as: "E-commerce, direct sales & agriculture: these platforms in the making that are revolutionising agricultural distribution"; "Connected objects: a look at the hidden face of agriculture" or "Committed consumers, caring producers: towards sustainable agriculture".
