Man Versus Machine

Will Automated Technology Impact Agricultural Jobs?

If robots can assist in performing surgeries, surely, they can pick blueberries; right? You might be surprised to find out, we are not quite there yet.

For every headline hinting that AI is infringing on jobs in the Ag sector you’ll find another one urging us to adopt automation faster because our labor force is dwindling. We are in a tech era and it’s one full of possibility, but also not without its own unique risks. So which perspective is accurate??

The answer is both.

Automated technology is absolutely going to impact agricultural jobs and it absolutely has the potential to solve real labor issues. The current reality of man versus machine in agriculture is somewhere in between the all-out AI takeover and no one to farm our food. The middle is feasible problem solving.

Are We Trading Farm Hands for Drones?

You’re probably familiar with the pros of incorporating automated technology into farming and ranching operations. Precision ag tech, automated land prepping tools, and the use of robots, drones and GPS tracking are intended to efficiently allocate resources, reduce operational costs, steward land and animals well and make farms and ranches more profitable. But how does it really play out? Are we trading out humans for drones?

According to a peer reviewed article published by MDPI, 60% of professions could be impacted by automated technology. However, of those impacted jobs, only 30% of the actual work could be automated. In agriculture specifically, there is only a 25% automation potential. Rather than a loss of one in four employees to a robot, it’s more likely that of the four tasks an employee is required to do in a day, automation can only realistically do one of them better than a human.

At the end of the day, farming and raising livestock is a bit more unpredictable than other professions. The technology we are discussing is programmed to do a specific job on repeat, it’s not adaptable. If the weather is bad, the field is muddy or visibility is impaired, the tech can’t adjust and it isn’t learning as it goes. The need for experienced minds who can problem solve on the fly is still needed in most agricultural work.?

Back to the blueberries again and fragile crops like them that require a bit of finesse to be harvested, and do not fall into the scope of what automated tech is capable of achieving. The job is still done better by humans.

Are Farms Really Using Automated Technology?

The fastest growing sector of automated technology is precision ag tools, particularly auto steering machinery. In 2001 only 5.3% of farms were using auto steering equipment to produce corn. Today more than 58% of corn was planted or harvested using precision ag tools.?

More farms are investing in automated technology that monitors plant and soil health and can calculate, in real time, the rates of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers to be used in small areas based on soil samples and plant imaging. It’s work that can be done by a human being, but technology can do it faster and in a way that conserves resources and reduces risks associated with crop protection methods.

In the dairy and poultry industries, farms are using automated sensory and monitoring tech to better care for their livestock. Though humans are capable of monitoring barn conditions and regularly checking on animals, automated systems have been shown to spot problems faster which has resulted in quicker problem solving.

However, automated tech still has its obstacles. Commercial farming has benefited from automation far more than small farm operations have which makes the man versus machine situation a question of feasibility. Large farms can afford the upfront costs of automated tech and will see the decrease in expenses when it helps them use less water, herbicides and fertilizer. It also means they can do more work with fewer people.??

A small farm typically doesn’t have the same capital to invest or the means of scaling operations to the point that automation is the more profitable option. And we can’t forget that investing in automated technology also means investing in teaching employees how to use, maintain and fix it. Small farms may see this as a solution that creates a new obstacle.

It’s also still somewhat industry specific. The dairy industry and row crop farming are seeing huge benefits because of automation while a lot of fruits and vegetable crops have too many variables to make automation beneficial.

The Future of Tech in Ag

Projections show that by 2030 we will be in a laborer deficit. There won’t be enough people to work in the fields. But, studies also show that smart crop monitoring, drone use, and livestock monitoring technology could be valued at upwards of $350 billion by 2030 and save $60 billion worth of energy use; making it not only a solution to labor shortages, but a driver of economic growth.

Will automated technology impact agricultural jobs, yes it will. And it likely won’t steal all the jobs while doing it. Instead, in the right barn and on the right field, it has the potential to boost productivity in our food system and make supply chains more resilient for the next generation; who, by the way, is much more accustomed to letting technology share the workload.

Originally Posted on Stratagerm's Blog on March 7, 2025.