A team of undergraduate students of the Faculty of Biology at UGM, led by Firchamy Vuqi Aulia along with Annisa Nur Baety, Azra Belva Naprilian, Muhammad Syahrul Firdaus, and Ridho Nur Alam under guidance Dr. Wiko Arif Wibowo, S.Si. achieved 2nd place in the National Scientific Paper Competition. The event was organized by Brawijaya University from June 1 to September 13, 2023 with the theme “Synergizing Nation Building with Applied Technological Innovation towards Independent Indonesia,”. The competition consisted of two stages: the submission of full papers and the creation of a PowerPoint presentation, followed by a presentation by the selected finalist.
The team took the sub-theme of agro complexes, with the title “Application of Precision Farming Concept with Digital Twins Technology in Vertical Farming in the Era of Industry 5.0 to Support Sustainable Development.” The writing of this scientific paper was motivated by the declining state of Indonesia’s agricultural sector over time. This is attributed to the increasing limitation of agricultural land availability due to its conversion into residential areas caused by the growing population. Additionally, the agricultural sector in Indonesia is still managed conventionally with limited technological involvement. This is a significant factor in frequent crop failures. These events lead to an increase in import activities as the food supply from the agricultural sector in Indonesia is insufficient to meet the consumption needs of the continuously growing population. Based on these issues, The team proposed an innovation aimed at addressing these challenges. This innovation involves the implementation of vertical farming coupled with the precision farming concept supported by Digital Twins technology. Vertical farming will serve as a solution for farmers with limited land, particularly those in urban areas. However, vertical farming alone will not yield optimal results without additional innovations. Therefore, we propose an innovation to manage vertical farming using the precision farming concept. Precision farming will be implemented using geographic information systems (GIS), remote monitoring, and soil sensors as primary tools. Furthermore, this precision farming concept will be further enhanced by the integration of Digital Twins technology, which utilizes real-time virtual modeling of objects with the assistance of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things).
The idea put forth by this team is anticipated to be an effective and constructive solution for the agricultural sector in Indonesia. If implemented, it will have a positive impact on Indonesia’s agricultural sector, making it more advanced and capable of meeting the food needs of the Indonesian population, while also competing on a global scale in the current Industry 5.0 era. Additionally, with the innovation stemming from this idea, it is hoped that the agricultural sector in Indonesia will develop sustainably, thereby eliminating issues of land scarcity and leading to an improvement in the quality and quantity of agricultural produce.