Technological advancements in the last two decades have changed the way most sectors operate. Although all sectors have been positively affected by this advancement agricultural sector has experienced a relatively slow improvement in the past decade. This has to change if the number of the over 700 million people globally who suffer from anger has to reduce. The role technology has to play in farming in the future needs to be in great as it has been in the transportation sector in the past. This paper will look at the roles that technology, either mechanical, chemical, biological and/or informational, should play in the future of farming.
As most sectors in the economy have been experiencing tremendous expansion, agriculture, one of the most crucial sectors in the economy, has remained stagnant. Agricultures’ total contribution to the GDP has shrunk to just 3 percent, a third of its total contribution a decade ago according to (Oliver Wyman, 2018). This means the food production industry has taken a back seat in digital error. Farming has not fully tapped into the promise of the technological advancement seen in the past few years fully. To eradicate hunger, the future of farming should not be the traditionally based system but rather the effective technologically-based means of farming.
Costs are one of the most important variables a farmer should consider before starting work. Technology, more so informational technology, will play a big role by helping farmers access the amount of money that is likely to be incurred in production. An early projection of the costs will facilitate the preparation of the budget by the farmer. Technology will not only project the budget but also the output and the profits to be incurred, including the maximum profit. This calculation which will be automated through technological software, will aid the farmers from a lot of unnecessary calculations, saving the farmer a lot of time.
Apart from estimating the costs, technological advancements will also help cut costs. The future of agriculture will no longer depend on applying water, fertilizers, and pest sides uniformly across entire fields (Oliver Wyman, 2018). Rather the area or place of need will be identified through mechanical technology and an automated system set to apply the Pest side and water in areas of need. This will not only save costs but also save the environment as applying the Pest side in the wrong area causes pollution.
Robotics and artificial intelligence are other areas that, in the past decade, have seen massive adoption in many sectors, especially the manufacturing sector. The robots will be aided by artificial intelligence and GPS services and CCTV cameras to help monitor different sections of the farm. This will hugely improve effectiveness and efficiency but it will lead to the loss of the more traditional farm jobs while more jobs will be created for Information technology experts. Technology is the future of farming and in the recent future, human-driven tracks and ox-driven plows will be an issue of the past. Everything will seem electricized and the electrical consumption in the farms will be higher than one can imagine.
With the energy consumed on the rise, the issue will be the type of energy produced. Will greener electricity options will be formulated, or will the level of pollution in the air, water and land be higher? That will remain to be seen for sure is a bigger production capacity of one type of farm produce. Specialization will increase because farmers will seek to maximize utility by ensuring that the most productive farm production machine and software are maximized in one type of product is produced.
Another farm is likely to receive a great boost due to technological advancement shortly will be the storage sector. Wastages that were normal before adequate Technology to help will be an issue of the past. Good storage will also help in ensuring that price instability associated with farming is a forgotten issue. Farmers will always be assured that their products, however much it is, will be kept safe until when needed. With climate change being an issue, long periods of the dry and wet season than normal adapting will be necessary. Storage will not be a matter of only far when the produce is in where warehouse, but it will be a continuous process from the harvest date to when the produce is consumed by the final user passing through many stages, including the transportation stage.
In the future, the detection of diseases, pests, and weeds will be more advanced than it is now. Through drones, satellites, and strategically placed cameras, farmers will be able to know the state of affairs of their farms in the comfort of their homes. Artificial persons and robots will be sent to areas where an image resembling a man and moving scare craws will be used to keep some pests away. Genetically produced plants and seeds will be produced to produce crops that are more resistant to drought and floods, which will continue to be more adverse.
Perhaps the sector that will rip the most from this advancement will be the matters that deal with the irrigation of plants. Most farmers, especially those from dry areas, experience huge losses when irrigating their plants because they drain the whole piece of land. Advanced technology will test the level of water available in a particular piece of farm and know the one which needs more irrigation and one that does not. Technological advancements, especially mechanical ones, will make it easy for every farmer to gain a constant flow of water from the boreholes, which results in a constant flow of this crucial resource.
A more speculative benefit of technological advancement on farm produce is the ability to mix seeds and fruits of two different crops to form a highbred crop that is less likely to be negatively affected by adverse climatic conditions. The high breeds could also be made in such a way that they fasten the time certain crop takes to mature and be ready for consumption. If this could be possible, then the possibility of even sweeter and more quality products would be produced. This will be done through gene editing techniques to produce a wider variety of crops, a technique that is still at the beginning stages today.
As of now, rural-urban migration is still high. Soon, this migration is expected to be even higher. A lot of free lands will be left behind, allowing large-scale farm production processes and heavy machinery to work in the left-behind rural areas. This will be necessary as the population will be very high and the number of farmers will be few. Technology will make this association possible as transportation of farm produce will be more efficient and faster than it is currently. Currently, reports conclude that the food system faces a crisis of sustainability of agriculture, land use, and degradation of the environment one of these studies being (Springmann et al., 2018) This issue, unless strict legislation and intervention measures are taken, will surface and a lot of rural areas will be polluted by the technologically advanced machinery.
What will be the role of Technology in the future of agriculture? Nobody can accurately describe this future unless you want to make a fool out of yourself. What we do know for sure is that technology will play a crucial role as it has in different sectors in the previous decades. Most dwellers will be forced to migrate to urban areas and the only people who will be more likely to be found in the rural areas will be the IT experts and drone observers, not your typical farmers. Food shortages experienced today in the future will be mitigated by an extensive investment by such wise investors who will reap huge profits from the sector.
References
Oliver Wyman. (2018). Agriculture 4.0 – The Future of Farming Technology. Web.
Springmann, M., Clark, M., Mason-D’Croz, D., Wiebe, K., Bodirsky, B. L., Lassaletta, L., de Vries, W., Vermeulen, S. J., Herrero, M., Carlson, K. M., Jonell, M., Troell, M., DeClerck, F., Gordon, L. J., Zurayk, R., Scarborough, P., Rayner, M., Loken, B., Fanzo, J.,… Willett, W. (2018). Options for keeping the food system within environmental limits. Nature, 562(7728), 519–525. Web.