The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced the establishment of a new focus group to 'artificial intelligence and internet of things for digital agriculture' which is mandated to explore the emerging cyber-physical systems as groundwork for standardisation to stimulate their deployment for agriculture worldwide. The focus group will collaborate closely with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The new group will bring new capabilities aiming at discerning complex patterns from a growing volume of agricultural and geospatial data; improving the acquisition, handling, and analysis of these data; enabling effective decision-making; and guiding interventions to optimize agricultural production processes. 'The projection that our planet will host 9.7 billion people by 2050 necessitates significant technological progress to sustain so many lives. This new focus group is the beginning of a global drive to ensure equitable access to the new capabilities emerging in agriculture with advances in digital technology,' noted ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.