Can AI solve on-farm challenges?

McKinsey’s latest Global Farmer Insights report has found that pressures on agriculture are acutely high, with supply chains exposed, and farmers having to manage risk and make careful capital allocation decisions. Farm profitability peaked in 2021/22, the report says, since when commodity prices have declined while the costs of fertilisers, labour and equipment have remained high and/or volatile. Geopolitical tensions have contributed to higher energy and input costs. Adding in policy uncertainty, unpredictable weather patterns, and labour shortages in many areas, makes farm level decision making harder and riskier.

One innovation that the report highlights is the appetite from some farmers to use generative AI for farm-related tasks. Of the 5,500 global farmers surveyed, 17% are using AI, though only 4% are paying for solutions. The report found that 75% of farmers expect AI to have some impact, with Latin American and North American growers the most willing to pay for AI solutions.

Climate adaption climate fund clamour

Following a summer of drought and serious wildfires, the Spanish government has called for an EU-wide climate adaptation fund. The plans would allow for the mobilisation of resources from across the union to respond when emergencies occur that an individual member state is unable to cope with. The fund would be at least part funded by a windfall tax on the fossil fuel sector. Dry conditions and high temperatures have been prevalent across Europe through the summers of 2025 and 2026.

While the European commission has been tasked with coming up with a new climate adaptation and delivery strategy during 2026, so far it has stopped short of a windfall tax on oil and gas companies. However, government officials from Germany, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Austria have joined their Spanish counterparts in calling for EU-wide taxation to help counter the climate-related challenges. Reports suggest that big fossil fuel companies BP, Chevron and Shell will double net income to $45bn in the current quarter. Research from Oxfam and others has found that emissions related to those three companies alone may have caused around 25% of global heatwaves from 2000 to 2023.

Philippines FPIC critical mineral challenges

As demand for the critical minerals necessary for decarbonising economies continues to rise, the expansion of mining on forested lands and areas of special significance for indigenous communities is a continual concern. in the Philippines the government of President Marcos jnr is establishing a framework for developing the nation’s critical minerals industry that, Eco-Business reports, identifies 9m hectares of land that could have mineral resources. A national exploration programme is proposed alongside measures to streamline mining applications so that local and national permits will be processed alongside each other rather than in sequence. Currently around 800,000 hectares is covered by approved mining projects and of that just over half overlaps with traditional ancestral domains, according to Eco-Business.

Many indigenous peoples depend directly on forests and other natural resources for farming, often on a subsistence basis. An indigenous group – the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Centre – says that the process of fast-tracking applications will impact the ability of local peoples to give free prior and informed consent, with public consultation taking place before communities have sufficient information about the impacts. The Philippines government has said that critical mineral related development should proceed alongside environmental protection, and the social and economic development of host communities.