Artificial Intelligence
77 AI in Agriculture
Hayden Best and Mason Nobles
Introduction
Robots are taking over our jobs!!!!! Not really this is a notion that has been frequently voiced, especially with the recent addition of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workforce. While Ai is very capable of performing numerous tasks in a more efficient way than humans, it is far from perfect, even farther from completely displacing human jobs all together. In agriculture specifically there has been a major scare of a large-scale job loss with the simple tasks now being loaned out to automated machines. Examining the history of agriculture reveals a strong correlation between societal shifts and technological advancements. Agriculture has always made technological advancements in response to the new demands of a growing population. Now, with the global population at an all-time high, we require new methods of efficient farming in order to provide for humanity. This is where AI comes into play, it is the most efficient method to farm in a large enough quantity to keep the world fed. Contrary to popular belief, job displacement is not the largest effect of introducing AI into farming, in fact it creates jobs. There is substantial data that indicates AI will create jobs in many places in the farming world as well as improve the working conditions for the preexisting workers. By thoughtfully integrating AI into agriculture, we can improve both efficiency and the jobs of many while simultaneously growing enough food to sustain the rapid growth of the population (Walch, 2024).
Connection to STS
The outlook on agriculture has experienced numerous changes over time. During the Gilded Age (late 19th century), there was significant opposition to large scale industrial farming, many considered them to be unethical and unnatural. Many make claims that technology plays too big of a role in the production of our food. However, as society has adapted, and the dependence of technology in everyday life has increased, many have changed their perspective dramatically and believe that technology is our only hope for the future of food production (Funk,2020). With this change came the introduction of new agricultural technologies, such as Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), which involve altering crops to possess traits that enhance farming efficiency. GMOs opened the door for so many other technological advancements in farming with the newest being AI. Which has now been integrated in numerous ways to help ease the burden of farmers as well as increase the amount of food produced per farm. This marked the new age of farming leading to AI being introduced into nearly every sector of farming you can imagine from crop monitoring to crop harvesting.
- 1500 B.C. – The first animals were used to pull farm machinery
- 1698 – The first rough steam engine was produced
- 1834 – The first mechanical combine was created
- 1869 – The first steam engine tractor was created
- 1907 – Ford