Why More Farmers Are Turning to AI Machines
As worker shortages persist on American farms, some are turning to novel solutions.

Artificial intelligence-powered harvesters, drones, and precision farming systems are quickly entering the mainstream of American agriculture. At its core, the technology promises efficiency and sustainability and carries a potential solution to a decades-old farming problem: the need for physical labor.

As the capabilities of robotics evolve, many jobs that once required human hands are being delegated to machines. Some artificial intelligence (AI) developers working on integrating this technology into America’s farms say early data support the possibility of a major farm labor force reduction.

The American Farm Bureau Federation estimated 17 percent of all U.S. agricultural labor in fiscal year 2024 comprised temporary migrant workers brought in under the H-2A visa program.
There are also millions of illegal immigrant workers, who, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) made up 42 percent of farm workers from 2020 to 2022.
Roman Rylko, chief technology officer of Pynest, said his company has worked with vegetable growers in the Midwest to deploy AI systems.

“We built the onboard model that lets an autonomous weeder separate spinach seedlings from pigweed in real time. A single rig now clears a 50-acre block in about eight hours. Before, that job meant a crew of 10 walking the rows for two days,” he told The Epoch Times.

Rylko’s firm works with growers to implement machine-learning models into field-deployable robotics.

“Autonomous tractors won’t kill field labor; they’ll move it up the stack, from stoop work to sensor maintenance and fleet orchestration,” he said.

“Our growers cut seasonal hand-weeding hours by roughly 70 percent, yet hired two techs to keep cameras clean, retrain the model on new cultivars, and swap battery packs.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/...2BxfJ0jppiLoHbMs8%3D

Guess that answers the “who will pick our weed” question.

quote:

Originally posted by Poacher:
Guess that answers the “who will pick our weed” question.

All joking aside with an AI evolution in the wings it's probably not a bad idea to shed excess labor that aren't US citizens.

If we end up needing someone to pick our week or tomatoes we could set up a seasonal worker program and I bet you there'd be a line of people willing to show ID and fill out some forms to become legal temporary workers in this changed environment.

A few years ago, my cousin installed a new robotic milking parlor in the family farm to improve production and efficiency. It automatically does everything necessary to milk a heifer, including testing the milk for bacteria before it moves it into the main milk tank. It’s absolutely amazing how the process worked with no human interaction. They also have a robot that periodically moves up and down the manager like a Roomba vacuum sweeping hay back into the manager for the cows to eat.

He tells me milk production is up around 20% and costs are down. AI and robotic help are changing farming, that’s for sure .

In 1980 I went went to the Future Farmers of America state finals in public speaking (ended up second) with my speech, “Ag Mechanization: A Boon or a Disaster?” At that point farmers were doing everything they could to replace people with machines, and with good reason.

One of the folks I spoke with in developing the speech, Fred Stuart of AgriServe shared how not long before he had gone to the unemployment office and hired a dozen folks to mow weeds in a tomato field. I don’t remember the wage, but it was more than minimum and Fred said that he told them he was buying lunch for everyone who was still working at lunchtime. Out of the dozen people, nobody did. It was hard, hot, monotonous, annoying work. Any of that that could be automated would be a win.

AI is just another tool to allow more automation of jobs that weren’t ever easy to staff. It is going to cause a disruption and free up labor to pursue other jobs where they can add more value (and hopefully be better compensated). It will be change and disruption and it may be uncomfortable but the aggregate net result will likely be positive.

That's why Bill Gates is buying farmland. This tech allows for AI to determine what each plant needs and when. It's said this will save large amounts of water, fertilizer, and pesticide.

I got a problem with calling again industrialists "farmers".