New technologies in the field such as artificial intelligence, computer vision and robotics will be the driving force to improve productivity and performance needed to feed the world. These technologies will have to be adopted by the agricultural workforce to keep up with the demand that is inevitable. Most farming jobs are going fully automated meaning that farmers need to retrain or reskill themselves in these new technologies as their jobs will become obsolete.
1. Farmers are becoming managers
In the past 30 years, farms have be consolidating into single larger businesses which have changed farmer´s roles into that of managers. In recent years, farmers have spent more time behind a screen than out in the field now that most tractors are autonomous. All these new autonomous devices and technologies still require management from a farmer. They need to understand how each new product operates in order to get the full benefit from their investment in order to stay relevant in these changing times.
2. Agronomists are becoming data analysts
Agronomists usually referred to as ¨plant doctors¨ are taking the role of data scientist. Their experience and knowledge is crucial to the industry but now they will need to use new devices such as sensors and aerial imagery to gather data. Interpreting data and putting it into practice will be a process, especially when data-driven recommendations and intuition (existing methods) rarely are accepted. Precision agronomy is becoming a career in its own right. Agronomists will act as a bridge between technologies and data-driven insights to traditional agronomic practices. In order to support farmers, and to full understand the value and ROI of new practices and devices, agronomists will need the correct tools and skills to understand to importance of the results.
3. Resellers and intermediaries becoming tech enablers
Dealers and vendors of agricultural products and equipment used to make straightforward transactions; selling equipment, seeds, chemicals, etc., however, now they must also include training and onboard processes when selling new technology platforms and robots. Besides being a salesperson, their success also lies in their ability to teach and train how to use these platforms or devices in order for the customers to get the full use out of their purchase. Food growers rely on a hefty load of software (dashboards, analytics, and programmatic alerts) and hardware (robotics, sensors, cameras, etc.) that are orchestrated to reach productivity goals.
Short-term vs. Long term skill gap
In the long term (five to ten years), many roles will involve learning to manage a fleet of robots. Just like autonomous vehicles are becoming commonplace in the cities, autonomous tractors will find themselves in the fields within the next few years. Weeding robots can be incredibly accurate and use 90% less pesticide with computer vision. Drones will help famers monitor conditions remotely, and even apply fertilizers and other treatments from above.
In the mid-term (three to five years), until tech platforms are completely intuitive and robots fully autonomous, the emphasis when it comes to skills will be on platform orchestration and data management. Since many of the new technology tools deliver an unprecedented amount of data, the short-term challenge is to transform data into insights and therefore value. In the meantime, skills in data analysis to improve the level of data literacy will give food growers an edge to adopt emerging technologies.
