AI, Blockchain, And Drones Unite In The AgriTech Revolution

Forbes

09-06-2025

Drones, combined with blockchain and AI, are changing AgriTech.
What if drones, AI, and blockchain could reshape the way we feed the world—starting in Malaysia?
That vision is becoming reality through a AgriTech initiative that integrates drones, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain technology.
In an effort to support sustainable farming and technological innovation, Farmsent, DroneDash, and SkyX have announced a partnership to launch an advanced smart AgriTech network spanning over 490,000 acres of palm plantations in Malaysia.
This collaboration creates a blueprint for modern agriculture that is efficient, sustainable, and globally participatory.
Imagine autonomous drones mapping vast plantations, deploying agrochemicals with pinpoint precision—all guided by real-time AI and blockchain-verified data.
Farmsent is introducing blockchain-tokenized soil sensors that continuously monitor critical soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These sensors provide real-time data, enabling precise and timely fertilization strategies, ensuring optimal nutrient application at the exact locations required.
Through tokenization, these sensors become assets within the global Web3 community, allowing global participants to invest and contribute actively to sustainable agricultural practices. These sensors employ predictive AI modeling to anticipate nutrient requirements, enabling highly optimized fertilization strategies and significantly boosting sustainability.
DroneDash plays a pivotal role, streamlining the deployment of drone technology for targeted agrochemical applications, thus enhancing the efficiency of pesticide and fertilizer use. This not only optimizes resource usage but also minimizes environmental impact, protecting ecosystems surrounding agricultural areas.
DroneDash's AgriTech Drone
DroneDash's drone fleet isn't just high-tech—it's cost-cutting, reducing chemical usage and maximizing efficiency.
Complementing this technology, SkyX introduces advanced hyperlocal weather stations. These stations capture detailed, hyper-accurate climate data, measuring variables such as temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind direction, wind speed, and air pressure. This granular level of detail provides invaluable insights that allow farmers to make proactive, data-driven decisions, improving crop yields and resilience against climatic uncertainties.
Additionally, each technological component deployed—including sensors and weather stations—is assigned a unique blockchain identity via the peaq blockchain platform. This strategic integration of blockchain technology creates decentralized opportunities for global participation, enabling individuals around the world to directly invest and engage in agricultural innovations through tokenization.
Yog Shrusti, co-founder of Farmsent, commented to me that "this isn't just about integrating technology; it's about fundamentally reshaping how we approach agriculture in Southeast Asia. By empowering farmers with unprecedented data-driven insights and fostering a global community around sustainable practices through tokenization, we're not just optimizing yields – we're building a more resilient and equitable food system for generations to come.'
Yog Shrusti, co-founder of Farmsent
More than 25% of the world's population and more than 40% of the global agricultural production heavily rely upon unsustainable groundwater extraction. Traditional agricultural methods often result in significant inefficiencies and environmental challenges, necessitating innovative solutions to sustainably meet growing food demands.
The agricultural drone market alone is projected to reach USD 7.6 billion by 2028 according to Markets and Markets. By integrating drone technology into everyday farming operations, Farmsent, DroneDash, and SkyX are leading the charge towards substantial reductions in the use of critical resources, potentially cutting water, pesticide, and fertilizer consumption by up to 50%.
Paul Yam, CEO of DroneDash explained to me that 'this is not just a technical integration — it's proof that decentralized technologies can solve real problems, create real value, and drive real profit for communities and investors alike."
Paul Yam, CEO of DroneDash
The practical impact of these innovations is immediate and tangible. Farmers equipped with real-time analytics and precise climate insights can significantly enhance productivity and efficiency, while drastically reducing environmental footprints.
This combination positions Malaysia at the forefront of global AgriTech innovation, serving as a benchmark for other nations facing similar agricultural and environmental challenges.
AI is the intelligence engine behind this transformation—turning raw data into real-time, predictive insights that farmers can act on.
AI-driven analytics integrate real-time sensor data, historical environmental information, and drone-collected imagery, providing farmers with actionable insights into current and future agricultural conditions. These predictive analytics enable farmers to anticipate crop health issues, optimize resource allocation, and implement proactive measures rather than merely reactive ones.
With each season, the system gets smarter—boosting yields, trimming costs, and future-proofing farms. This continual improvement means that the accuracy and effectiveness of interventions steadily increase, optimizing agricultural outputs and enhancing resource efficiency.
The integration of AI ensures that data-driven insights are accessible, practical, and tailored to local conditions. Farmers can receive personalized recommendations, allowing for more effective responses to specific agricultural challenges and ensuring a direct positive impact on crop yield and sustainability.
Blockchain isn't just for transparency—it's unlocking new markets. Every drone, sensor, and station becomes a verifiable, investable digital asset.
Each drone, soil sensor, and weather station is assigned a unique digital identity through the peaq blockchain, creating an immutable and transparent record of operations, maintenance, and data output.
That means farm operations are no longer black boxes. Investors, regulators, and farmers can track input-to-output performance in real time. With transparent tracking, stakeholders—from local farmers to international investors—can verify the authenticity and accuracy of the data generated by each device.
Overall benefits from this new Drone, AI and Blockchain Platform
Frank Fang, the co-founder of SkyX, explained it well when he said, 'While the agriculture industry has long relied on generalized weather forecasting, we're witnessing a fundamental shift toward hyperlocal precision that can make the difference between a profitable harvest and significant losses. Our blockchain-powered weather stations don't just collect data—they create a new economic model where accurate environmental intelligence becomes a trade-able asset."
SkyX isn't just forecasting the weather—they're tokenizing it, letting anyone invest in climate intelligence infrastructure.
Blockchain also facilitates decentralized governance models, where stakeholders collectively make decisions, aligning incentives and promoting collaborative management of shared resources. Such participatory governance ensures equitable distribution of benefits and risks, encouraging sustained investment and involvement from global communities.
This isn't a regional pilot—it's a scalable model. With the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicting a 70% increase in global food demand by 2050, adopting advanced technologies like drones, sensors, and blockchain is not just beneficial—it's essential.
For consumers worldwide, these technologies promise enhanced sustainability and potentially lower food prices by increasing agricultural efficiency and reducing waste. More sustainable practices contribute directly to healthier environments and ecosystems, addressing pressing global environmental concerns.
Investors and participants in the global economy stand to benefit substantially through blockchain tokenization, which opens up new avenues for direct investment into the booming AgriTech sector. By democratizing access to agricultural advancements, individuals globally can actively participate in and benefit financially from sustainable farming innovations.
Summary of the benefits
This partnership exemplifies the power of technology to address critical global challenges, driving forward a vision of agriculture that is not only productive but also equitable, resilient, and sustainable.
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