Technology can play a major role in addressing the challenges of affordability and lack of infrastructure that often hinder the widespread adoption of sustainable agriculture practices, especially among smallholder farmers in developing nations. Here are some key ways this can be done:

Precision agriculture technologies such as GPS guidance systems, soil sensors, and drones equipped with cameras and sensors can help farmers use inputs like water, fertilizer, and pesticides much more efficiently. This precision allows for optimized usage while avoiding over-application, which brings considerable cost savings. Precision tools also enable site-specific management of fields, taking into account variability in soil health, which boosts yields. All of this can be done with minimal infrastructure requirements beyond the technologies themselves. For example, drone images and sensors can map a field and indicate exactly where and how much water or fertilizer is needed without the need for expensive irrigation systems or soil testing labs.

Mobile apps and digital platforms can also play a huge role in disseminating sustainable farming knowledge and techniques to widespread populations with minimal infrastructure. For example, apps provide just-in-time information to farmers on crop choices, planting times, nutrient management practices optimized for their location, weather forecasts, pest and disease warnings, and market prices via their smartphones. They may also connect farmers to agricultural experts for advice and help address specific problems. Some platforms even facilitate financial transactions by linking farmers to credit providers, input and machinery suppliers, and buyers. This type of access to knowledge, markets and financing helps remove barriers to adoption of sustainable practices.

Low-cost automated devices driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies also have potential to overcome infrastructure and affordability hurdles. For instance, inexpensive smart greenhouses powered by renewable energy can precisely control temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels, nutrient delivery and other parameters to maximize yields from smaller spaces with fewer inputs. AI and IoT can automate water and fertilizer delivery in hydroponic and aeroponic vertical farming systems with minimal land or water requirements. Similarly, autonomous robotic tools driven by computer vision can streamline operations like weeding and crop monitoring. While high-end versions of such technologies may be expensive initially, open-source community innovation is driving the development and sharing of simpler, low-cost sustainable farming devices.

Blockchain and distributed ledgers have applications for sustainably improving transparency, access and affordability in agriculture value chains. For example, they enable smallholder farmers to connect directly with buyers, cut out middlemen, and receive fair prices for sustainable products. Smart contracts on blockchain verify and automate transactions so farmers get paid immediately on delivery. Traceability solutions based on blockchain lend authenticity to sustainably-grown labels, opening new higher-value niche export markets. The same technologies can power innovative sharing economies for agricultural assets like machinery, reducing individual capital investment needs.

Collective models like cooperatives and aggregation hubs also circumvent infrastructure and scale barriers when paired with technology. Connecting dispersed smallholder plots virtually via data platforms brings efficiencies of larger-scale adoption. Farmers receive bulk discounts on sustainable inputs and services. Cooperative sales, processing and logistics lower individual cost burdens. Shared community assets like machinery, labs, renewable energy and storage infrastructure are more affordable. Information sharing among users multiplies knowledge spillovers faster. Such collective sustainable models will be further strengthened by emerging 5G networks and cloud platforms that reduce per-user technology access costs.

Of course, technology alone cannot solve every challenge – sociocultural and policy barriers also must be addressed. But with focused efforts around open innovation, local adaptation, skills development and enabling policies, affordable, decentralized technologies undoubtedly have immense potential to accelerate the transition to more sustainable agricultural systems globally, even in infrastructure-poor contexts. Public-private partnerships will be key to driving these solutions at scale, empowering millions of smallholder farmers worldwide with new alternatives.

The synergistic application of tools across precision agriculture, mobile/digital platforms, low-cost automated devices, distributed ledgers, cooperative models and emerging connectivity has enormous power to overcome affordability and infrastructure barriers currently limiting sustainable practices. With holistic strategy and support, technology can help achieve global food and climate goals through grassroots agricultural transformation.