What Is the Future of Farm Data?

By PrecisionTech Ag Professional Staff|February 20, 2020

With the start of the new year and decade for that matter, there have been all sorts of lists and articles about the advancements within agriculture and what the future might hold, reports the Agricultural Data Coalition at PrecisionAg. This is also an interesting point to be looking ahead not just because of the new decade, but also because we are in what has been described as an inflection point where the forces interacting will have long lasting impact on the agriculture industry.

As customer trends change, with the average consumer looking for food that has the perception of being grown in a more sustainable manner, that is also in some way offsetting climate change. As well as new products coming to market that could influence what people eat, potentially reducing the demand for meat in developed countries. Additionally, increased focus on what inputs are used to raise a crop; from fertilizers, tillage practices, and crop protection chemicals. These inputs are beginning to be more tightly regulated forcing dramatic changes to farm operations in many parts of the world.

The forces mentioned so far are all just within the relatively small ag industry, other forces like the data privacy and security issues coming to a head with some of the largest companies in the world like Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft will also undoubtedly influence our market as well. A growing push for renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels is also gaining momentum. We also see new technologies coming to the consumer market from autonomous ride sharing vehicles to high bandwidth connectivity with 5G. And we cannot forget the globalization of markets, resulting in trade wars and new export opportunities with people around the world moving from low income to be middle class resulting in a shift in what they like to eat. All of this is occurring with the backdrop of a skilled labor shortage across many levels of the agricultural supply chain pushing many farm operations to look more and more at robotics and autonomous solutions that in themselves have the potential to further re-shape modern agriculture.