By Tom J. Bechman, Indiana Prairie Farmer
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| Technology even allows you to be part of agriculture today, growing a constant supply of salad inside your own kitchen using this space-age appliance. |
Just a few years ago John Deere Company produced a
short video which followed a farmer for one day during planting season. He woke
up to his coffee already brewing. Today we can even set a programmable
coffeemaker to just make a single cup of coffee. But most of us can’t do what
the farmer did next- he walked to a large-screen LED TV display, and it provided
weather information and much more. He could start his tractor remotely, and
even let it operate by itself.
It seemed a bit ‘out-there’ then, but not today. Deere and
several other companies have autonomous equipment. The question is whether
society is ready for tractors without drivers. There are cars which drive themselves,
but that doesn’t mean everyone is hurrying out to buy one.
Meanwhile, data collection is booming in agriculture. As
machines operate in the field, sensors linked to on-board computers collect all
kinds of information. Technology is available which allows a farmer to monitor
what’s happening on a machine an employee is operating from his cell phone. He
instantly knows not only where the machine is but how well it’s operating.
And if the machine isn’t performing up to par, he can clue in
his dealer, who alerts a technician to monitor data coming from the machine in
real time. Often, the technician can diagnose a potential problem, even before
it causes a breakdown. These technicians still know how to turn a wrench, but
their most important asset is a computer, not a toolbox.
At the same time, companies like Microsoft are figuring out
how to transmit crop information collected in the field back to the computer in
the farmer’s office, using ‘white noise’ channels on TV frequencies which TV stations
aren’t using. The Internet of things has come to agriculture!
What does all this mean to those inside and outside of
agriculture? The goal is increased efficiency, which means more food produced
on the same amount or less land at cheaper cost. That translates into a
constant supply of safe, healthy food, not only for Americans, but for people
around the world. Instead of one farmer feeding roughly 150 people today, someday
that number will be much larger.
Meanwhile, technology allows consumers who want local food to
decide just how local they want it to be. Today they can buy fruits and
vegetables at farmers’ markets in season. Some producers are using hydroponics
to produce certain types of vegetables all-year long and supplying them to
consumers through local arrangements.
What if you could grow your own food, right in your kitchen?
It’s not far-out dreaming. Unlike many things that weren’t reality yet in the
John Deere video of the future farm, growing your own food inside your kitchen
is reality now!
Scott Massey, an entrepreneur who learned how to grow plants,
primarily lettuce and other greens, in a small, controlled environment while
working on NASA space projects, developed GroPod, available for order through
his start-up company. It uses aeroponics in a small appliance and seed starter
‘pods’ to allow you to, in theory, have green, leafy vegetables for your table,
fresh every day, all year long. Now that is local! It’s pricey today but check
it out at gropod.com.
Where will technology take agriculture in the future? The sky
may be the limit. Perhaps small robots will work like a swarm of bees to spray
and tend crops. Perhaps fresh lettuce growing in your kitchen will become
affordable.
One thing is certain. Agriculture will be ever -broadening,
perhaps including even you. And it will continue to provide safe, affordable,
healthy food for America and beyond.
