than just agriculture, the company unveiled its vision for an autonomous future. "We need technology to harvest the data so we can make better decisions,” says Todd Stucke, president of Kubota Tractor Corporation. “If we can make better decisions, then the sustainability, doing more with less, if we can start doing that, we can also help labor usages. So, can we automate our equipment or use technology to make the best operator, your everyday operator, more efficient? I think that's where we're investing in.”
Stucke is also the current chairman of AEM, which allows him to explore autonomy on a much broader scale. “Te question of, ‘Is autonomy coming?’ Yes, it's coming. As chairman of AEM, one thing that we need to do as an industry is make sure the regulation follows the technology. So, we don't want to have an autonomous tractor that we have to have a person in it. So those are the type of things that our industry must address,” says Stucke.
Robotics Industry Strong and Growing A March 29, 2024, press release from GlobalData states, “Robotics industry to hit $218 billion in 2030; will help agri sector tackle climate change and labor shortages. Te global agriculture sector faces various challenges, including the impacts of climate change and labor shortages. Robotics can help agriculture companies tackle these challenges by automating machines and supporting vertical farming. Against this backdrop, the robotics industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17 percent from $63 billion in 2022 to $218 billion in 2030.” forecasts GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData's latest Tematic Intelligence report, “Robotics in Agriculture,” reveals how robotics is helping to achieve precision agriculture and support workers in a new agricultural revolution. Precision agriculture involves using agrochemicals in a prescriptive manner to minimize waste and pollution. It is particularly important given the simultaneous issues of increased demand for food and rising labor and agricultural input prices.
Holly Anness-Bradshaw, Associate Tematic Intelligence Analyst at GlobalData, comments, “Robots can carry out the strenuous and monotonous tasks that lead to injuries and fatigue. Te agriculture industry is investing and innovating in many parts of the robotics industry, including drones, field robots, and robotics intelligence.”
Te future of agriculture will be underpinned by robots that augment the industry’s workforce. Robots will assist workers in the agriculture sector, not replace them. Anness- Bradshaw continues: “Traditional agricultural companies like John Deere and Cargill, as well as agricultural startups, are all hiring and innovating in robotics. Te agricultural sector is becoming increasingly aware of the potential and need for robotics to support labor and increase agricultural productivity.” And Anness-Bradshaw added, “Robots will
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From drones and data to sensors and science, Farm Journal describes smart farming as a management strategy that empowers you, the farmer, to collect, visualize, and confidently act upon relevant insights. Graphic from (
agweb.com) iStock/Lori Hays.
support human workers by automating repetitive and strenuous tasks, such as tilling, but will also learn crop health and growing patterns.”
Robots are learning the growing patterns of specific produce. With the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with agricultural robots, this data is used to improve farm management strategies. To gain access to GlobalData’s latest press releases go to the GlobalData Media Center at the link that follows.
https://www.globaldata.com/media/
Adopted Technology’s Return on
Investment Tyne Morgan’s “Autonomy In Ag” article addressed the costs of adopting smart farming technology and the return- on-investment ratio. As she reported, the greatest example of ROI may be with the most widely adopted technology today, according to Darryl Matthews, a recently retired executive with Trimble. “Probably the best, or most well- known technology, is guidance and steering technology,” says Matthews. “It’s at about 80 percent penetration, but it can pay $15 an acre, on average corn production operations, back to a farmer in less overlap, less fuel, and less inputs, but $15 an acre.” Matthews says if you expand that across 650 acres, that’s around $10,000 in savings, which is what an average guidance system costs.
Technology as a tool is what will allow farmers to make more precise real-time decisions, uncovering a future of smart farming like nothing we’ve ever seen. “Te impact is going to be very interesting for the next five years because we're just beginning to see the rapid adoption of that sensor technology, that optics technology, and seeing what that means for a farmer,” says Blades. “Te term smart farming can mean a lot of different things, but I’ll tell you what it will mean. It will mean better operational efficiency for all farmers and a more sustainable message for society in general.”
Suz Trusty is co-editor of Turf News. TPI Turf News May/June 2024
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