Agrotech: How Tech is Disrupting the Agriculture, Food, & Aquaculture Industries
Introduction
Digital technologies have revolutionized the way we interact with our food and the way we produce it. Agrotech startups use artificial intelligence and machine learning to make better predictions about crop yields, trace contaminants in crops, help farmers cultivate smarter crop rotations, revolutionize indoor farming, or design new methods for animal slaughter. These innovations are not only improving efficiency and reducing costs for producers but also driving down prices for consumers. It is not inconceivable that in the next 10 years these changes will have a profound impact on how people eat from New York to Nairobi.
In the United States, nearly 16 million farmers account for 99 percent of total farm production. In total, they grow over 400 crops and raise 1,000 animals. This diversity is key to America's position as the world's largest producer of food and the second most important exporter in terms of value after only China. In fact, this small group generates a staggering $394 billion in annual revenue.
But while U.S. farmers are highly productive, they are also at risk from a number of potential crises ranging from extreme weather events to commodity speculation that could wipe out their entire livelihoods in one fell swoop. How will food production keep up with the demand of a growing population and the needs of an aging population? These are not imaginary risks.
In 2012, a powerful storm hit Iowa at the worst time of year. In addition to damaging corn, soybean, and cotton crops, more than 30% of all U.S. watermelon crop was lost as farmers struggled to protect it from frost damage. As prices of food commodities skyrocketed that year, dozens of food manufacturers were forced to cancel orders because they could not afford them or had no way to store the product in their warehouses.
Technology in Agriculture and Its Implications on Agribusinesses
The agricultural sector is the largest employer of labor in the United States. Roughly 10% of all U.S. jobs are directly or indirectly related to farms and food production, with over 90% of those jobs being involved with production, processing, and transportation. This is a high percentage compared to other sectors like manufacturing, which employs just over 6% of workers in the United States who work in factories and on assembly lines.
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Agriculture employs more people than retail sales, health care services and wholesale trade combined (Source: US Census Bureau).
Food production and processing workers are among the most highly educated occupations with a high proportion of workers holding at least a bachelor's degree (18%).
The industry is also one of the few in which women predominate, with roughly two thirds of farmworkers being women (66%). This is compared to the overall workforce where women only account for roughly 48% of all employees.
Crop Management
Agrotech innovations are already impacting agriculture and its businesses in significant ways that will lead to dramatic impact on the global food system.
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Agricultural robotics:
The U.S. agricultural industry has seen an increasing amount of interest in new forms of crop management by farmers and agtech investors, who are investing millions of dollars to bring products to market. Automation and robotic systems are innovating the way we harvest crops, from planting seeds to trimming leaves. In 2014, one study reported that "the US agriculture system depends on more than 4 million harvesting workers, the vast majority of whom are temporary workers with no rights or protections for the conditions in which they work."
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One example is autonomous tractor built to be driven by a farmer sitting in a separate cab but controlled by a driverless navigation system. This system can be programmed to drive crops, spraying pesticides and fertilizing in a particular pattern. The tractor will almost certainly require a human driver at some point, but it could eliminate the need for many workers if the system can be made to work well enough on its own.
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Another example is the startup Root Inc. that specializes in new forms of agricultural robotics, like this autonomous tractor. Root's founders are aiming to fundamentally change the way we farm by creating an automated system that can tend to a single crop in a large field without needing to be monitored by humans. The company has also released a trailer for its robotic farming system called FARMbot, which features an autonomous seed drill/planting machine and is designed as an "ultra-precision mobile robot" designed to optimize both the planting and care of crops.
Technology has also been used to create new varieties of crops that are more resistant to pests, diseases, and other catastrophic events. For example, the plant-growing company Modern Agriculture has developed a system that uses artificial intelligence to monitor irrigation levels and add fertilizer in real-time based on data from weather sensors and the soil moisture. The goal is for growers to make more consistent harvests and minimize losses from pests.
And when it comes to spreading seeds at planting time, there are now many smartphone apps that enable farmers to program their tractors and other farm equipment at planting time so they can be tailored specifically for their needs.
Conclusion
The most important thing to remember is that the agricultural industry is just getting started on its road to digital disruption.
Innovation in the U.S. agriculture sector is not slowing down anytime soon as agribusiness companies continue to search for ways to increase crop yields and decrease input costs, by investing in new technologies like robotics, drones, and GPS technology. With less mouths to feed globally and an increasingly affluent population, we can expect global impact of these innovations to grow through the years ahead.