The Gamechanger Contenders in Agriculture: Technology vs. Sustainability
March 9, 2021 A few weeks back, I wrote a column regarding what potential gamechangers were out there for agriculture to look to drive it forward during the next decade or so. I had listed several options in this article, but based upon the readers, two areas stood out from the crowd: Technology and sustainability. These easily controlled the poll figures between them, with 32% of respondents saying technology would be the key agricultural driver going forward and 31% believing that sustainability would win the day.
Naturally, I was curious to see if the overall agricultural marketplace agreed with these opinions by CropLife readers. Luckily, I had the chance to test this theory during the recent virtual 2021 Commodity Classic event, which was held March 2-5 online. As part of any in-person Commodity Classic, educational sessions and learning meetings are a regular part of the agenda, and 2021 was no different (except everything was held online instead of in-person).
To put our readers’ views to the test, I looked at all the sessions being held during the four-day 2021 Commodity Classic event. Now, the majority of the sessions had to do with current agricultural events – regulatory changes for 2021, commodity prices, weed control, and new product registrations/introductions. In all, these kinds of sessions made up 56% of the 2021 Commodity Classic agenda. The other 44%, however, touched upon either of the other two areas I was interested in: technology and sustainability. These tended to run the gambit of topics, from simple new product launches to using carbon credits and cover crops to earn money for grower-customers.
And what was the result? Among these 44% of sessions, the split was almost even, with a slight edge going to sustainability over technology (23% vs. 21%, respectively). This was very similar to what CropLife readers believed, with the two categories separated by only a percentage or two.
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