#unsdgs

By Swapnil Jadhav

The world is heading toward a population of 9 billion people by 2050.

That number gets thrown around a lot. It’s huge. It's abstract. But what it really means is: we’ll need to grow more food, on less land, with fewer resources… and do it in a way that doesn’t destroy what’s left of the planet.

Easy, right?

That’s the tension. And it’s why digital agriculture—tools like satellite imagery, predictive analytics, AI-powered monitoring—is no longer a luxury. It’s an essential part of the toolkit if we’re going to meet global goals, especially the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At Map My Crop, based in the United States, we think a lot about this intersection: tech and food, growth and equity, innovation and sustainability. Not in grand, abstract terms—but in field-level decisions that ripple outward.

Let’s Talk SDGs, Plainly

There are 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Not all of them are about agriculture, but many touch it directly:

Zero Hunger (SDG 2)

Clean Water (SDG 6)

Climate Action (SDG 13)

Responsible Consumption and Production (SDG 12)

Life on Land (SDG 15)

These aren’t checkboxes. They’re deeply connected. You can't solve hunger without solving soil degradation. You can't improve yields if irrigation is unsustainable. You can’t build resilience without data.

And that’s where digital ag tools come in—not as magic solutions, but as enablers.

A Small Field, A Big Impact

Let me give a concrete example.

A smallholder rice farmer in Southeast Asia uses our platform to monitor vegetation health. One season, satellite imagery shows early yellowing in the canopy. Using that insight, the local ag advisor adjusts fertilizer timing. Yield improves.

It’s a small event.

But scale that across 10,000 farms? It means more food, less input waste, fewer emissions, better incomes.

That’s digital agriculture contributing to SDG 2, SDG 12, and SDG 13, quietly but powerfully.

Efficiency with Eyes Wide Open

Here’s something I believe: Efficiency alone isn’t the goal. It’s sustainable efficiency—production that doesn’t sacrifice the future for the present.

Map My Crop’s monitoring tools help reduce pesticide use, flag water stress early, and optimize input timing. This saves money. But it also prevents chemical runoff, soil exhaustion, and long-term yield decline.

And that speaks directly to climate adaptation.

We’ve had clients tell us they didn’t realize how much they were overwatering until they saw moisture stress maps over time. Others reduced chemical spraying by up to 30% after switching to data-driven schedules.

The numbers are nice, sure. But it’s the pattern of smarter decisions that matters more.

Tech Must Include the Margins

Now here’s the catch—and it’s an important one.

Digital ag must not become another divide. If only the biggest farms, in the most developed regions, have access to these tools, then we’ve missed the point entirely.

That’s why our team has focused hard on low-data, low-bandwidth solutions, and why we’re working with partners who serve cooperatives, smallholders, and underrepresented regions.

Feeding 9 billion sustainably means inclusion by design, not as an afterthought.

It also means building tools that aren’t intimidating. That work in local languages. That run on the phones people already have.

What We’ll Be Bringing to London

In November 2025, Map My Crop will be attending the Go Global Awards, hosted by the International Trade Council in London. We're proud to be a nominee representing the United States.

But more than that, we’re excited to be in a room full of thinkers and builders asking the same question we are: What does it take to create systems that work—for people and for the planet?

This isn’t just an awards event. It’s a conclave of global minds, sharing ideas, solving problems, and building connections that could shape entire industries.

And the thing is—we’re still learning, too. We don’t have all the answers. But we’re listening. And adapting.

Final Reflection

Feeding 9 billion people sustainably isn’t a neat challenge. There’s no single tool, no one-size-fits-all answer.

But we do have signals. Clues. Technologies that, when used wisely, can help guide our decisions—field by field, farm by farm.

That’s what digital agriculture really is. It’s not tech for tech’s sake. It’s a lens that helps us see more clearly, act more precisely, and build a food system we’d be proud to hand off to the next generation.

A global celebration of unity, peace, and the UN’s pivotal role in fostering international cooperation. As we reflect on the United Nations’ remarkable work in addressing global challenges, it is essential to highlight the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those that closely align with Loocafe’s mission of providing sustainable and accessible public sanitation.