21st Century Agriculture

The science and business of agriculture has evolved and changed dramatically this century. The next 100 years will offer many challenges. Advances in technology will offer the farmer many new and exciting options to help produce food. To succeed in feeding the world, I believe farmers will have to utilize to the fullest sustainable farming, precision farming, and agricultural robotics, changing the way we farm to produce easier, faster, and better food. Sustainable agriculture is simply farming in a way that ensures your ability to farm in the future. Done correctly, the land can become more fertile with each passing year.

Industrial agriculture is not sustainable. They grow a few varieties of crops (monoculture) and are yields/money motivated. Monoculture wears out the land, resulting in higher fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide use. You add more chemicals each season to compensate, and, eventually, the land becomes so polluted and worn out it becomes unproductive.

Sustainable agriculture looks at the whole picture. Agriculture 100 years ago was sustainable. The problem then was that each farmer could only feed 5-10 people. Now, we feed about 130 people per farmer. We have encouraged the technology to increase productivity. In the future we will encourage the technology that increases productivity and sustainablity.

Precision agriculture utilizes technology to manage crop production better. Through the use of sensors, computerization, testing, and field mapping, every square foot of your field has the opportunity to produce its best. Seed, irrigation, fertilizer, and chemicals are applied in amounts that are dependent on the conditions of that specific part of the field. Precision farming eliminates excess inputs to low-yielding portions within a field, improving the health of the land and reducing input costs.

The field of robotics is often associated with equipment used in the manufacture of products. The extensive use of robots in the production of produce is only a little way off. There are already simple harvesting machines. In the future, robots will perform tasks the farmer now does with farm machinery, such as the harvest, tillage and planting crops. Small robots powered by solar energy will make many of the current machines on farms obsolete. No longer will you need to spray herbicide or pesticide. Your army of micro-robots will uproot weeds and eliminate destructive insects. Self-powered robots that don't tire or need refueling will reduce energy and labour requirements.

In case you don't believe that robots are the future: the next time you have a glass of milk or a bowl of cereal, you might want to ask yourself who milked the cow.

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