MIT Mullingar is holding a conference posing the question “Is Open-Source Farming the next Agricultural Revolution” on 24 January. The conference, which takes place in the Annebrook House Hotel at 7.30pm, seeks to investigate how improvements in technology and connectivity in the last two decades can benefit agriculture.

According to the organisers, open-source software and hardware facilitate sharing of ideas, improvisation and design innovation.

The interactive talk will explore how these open-source ideas could be introduced into farming in the future:

How can drones and robots be used on the farm?

How can open-source machinery and systems be built and deployed on the farm?

How can you create your own farm maps and databases in order to report, track, analyse and predict performance?

Can farmers become involved in open online collaboration projects such as Citizen Science to help monitor, promote and protect the environment?

Peter Mooney, from Maynooth University, will be speaking on the night. The talk is open to the public but attendees must register beforehand for free.

Editorial: Big data - knowledge drives progress

Farmers pull the plug on big data

Open-source farming – the next agricultural revolution?

Amidst a debate surrounding who owns data produced on farms, MIT Mullingar takes a look at the benefits of sharing information gathered in what it believes could be the next agricultural revolution.