Agricultural Autonomy is Coming – Quickly

This week we saw more than a glimpse of the automated future of farming at the joint summer meeting of the Alabama and Georgia Seed Associations. Associate Director Madison Dixon introduced the Agricultural Autonomy Institute, established in June 2023 by Mississippi State University. This newly created university-level institute focuses specifically on “agricultural autonomy” which Mr. Dixon defined as the “automation of traditional agricultural practices through the adoption of multi-domain systems (e.g., drones, driverless tractors, machine vision, selective seeding/spraying technologies, etc.).” In other words, the production systems of farms of the not-too-distant future will be fully automated – operated entirely on computers linked to wireless-enabled equipment. Indeed, John Deere is aggressively pursuing a fully autonomous production cycle for corn and soybean farmers by 2030.

Some of the reasons for automating farm processes include: (i) chronic labor shortages for farm workers, (ii) the widely held belief that the global population will exceed 10 billion people and require more food, (iii) climate change and the inevitable policies that will be adopted to combat it. Mr. Dixon also pointed out that many farm jobs tend to be dirty, dangerous, and sometimes dull – and humans tend to perform poorly in such tasks. Farm automation, particularly automated precision farming that can be deployed at scale, is viewed as a solution to these challenges. Automation also adds cool features to everyday tools, such as refrigerators that will order groceries for delivery to your doorstep. And to a certain extent, robots just make life easier.

For all the wonders that automation, A.I., and robots bring to modern life, it can be difficult not to view these changes (and some of the rationale for adopting them) with some skepticism, and maybe even a bit of alarm. While the shortage of farm labor is a major problem, it is worth asking whether farm policy over the last several decades isn’t at least partly responsible. There is no denying that rural populations (the source of farm labor) have been declining. Could government support for robust rural communities make a difference? Likewise, fertility rates have slowed dramatically and future global population growth looks less like a tsunami and more like an ebbing tide. Will automating corn and soybean farming increase food supplies, or does the real benefit result in more efficient ethanol and biodiesel production? Should that matter? Will this automated future benefit all farms, or just the biggest and best-funded?

I’ve always been firmly of the belief that agriculture is unique and its operators are worthy of unique government policy to manage the particular challenges the sector faces. But I have to admit, the feeling is different when the vision of farmer of the future looks more like a video gamer than John Dutton (or Charles Ingalls for those that remember him)

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