How Robotic Farming Could Enhance Agricultural Sustainability
If you picture a grain farmer out tending a field, you might imagine someone sitting on the metal seat of a tractor like the one in the picture above, moving slowly across a field - perhaps the farmer has a straw hat. That image seems attractive as long as you are not the farmer. Fortunately, this isn’t the real situation in the developed world or we wouldn’t get anyone in our rapidly aging population to do full-time farming on the multiple thousand-acre farms that are typical of a modern, Midwestern family farm.
Today, a progressive farmer will typically be working in an enclosed, air-conditioned cab with surround sound, a cell phone, and an internet connection for tracking commodity futures or catching up on email. Increasingly, the tractor is driving itself by computer and GPS except for occasional intervention. I’ve carried on a number of protracted interviews with farmers who were in just this setting. I know one farmer that ran much of his state senate campaign from a tractor or combine. These new, sophisticated, farm vehicles are not just about keeping the farmer comfortable and multi-tasking. They are important tools for making farming more sustainable.
