New Year, New Tech

As with any industry, farmers feel pressed to do more with lower inputs. Growing use of autonomous farming technology leads their efforts to increase farm efficiency and profits.

Autonomous tractors capable of running 24/7 eliminate the need for operators. This pushes efficiency without simply making equipment larger.

“A lot of tractor companies are looking to get bigger and bigger in the size of the equipment, but you need to fit a harvester on the road,” said Leaf Jiang, CEO of NODAR, a 3D sensor technology development company based in Somerville, Massachusetts.

“You get to a point where it’s beyond mechanical limits. The labor shortage is pushing us towards autonomy. How can I farm longer or be able to do it in more conditions?”

Prediction: Farms Will See Autonomous Equipment in 2025

Whether it’s retrofitting an automation kit to a tractor or buying a tractor that’s already autonomous, such as John Deere’s or AGCO’s foray into the sector, autonomous equipment is on its way to farms near you in 2025.

Jiang acknowledged that one of the challenges with developing autonomous equipment includes night vision, and elements that obscure the camera lenses, such as fog, rain, dust and spray or spread drift, but if a human can see through it, computers can see through it.

“For our technology, we developed algorithms to work in those conditions,” Jiang said.

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology uses a pulse that bounces back off objects to create a digital 3D construction of the equipment’s surroundings.

“LIDAR systems have some issues getting into mass production,” Jiang said. “It’s expensive and there’s liability.”

Using both radar and LIDAR systems in autonomous equipment helps keep it on track.

Running equipment all night would certainly cut labor costs and improve efficiency for time-sensitive work such as planting and harvesting. But what would the neighbors think?

Jiang puts the onus on the operator to use autonomous tech appropriately. Just as with spreading manure, talking with neighbors about any potential disturbance will go a long way towards friendly relationships with the community.

“During those times of harvest and till, it’s especially tight with the labor crunch,” Jiang said.

“An autonomous system can help you. People would be tolerant of that more, since it’s short periods. You can imagine a system that you can program around your neighbor’s schedules. Or that sprays manure intelligently. Or zap individual weeds to minimize the use of chemicals.”

Sustainable Farming With Autonomous Tech

Precision autonomous equipment would reduce passes over fields, minimizing soil compaction and ensure even swaths for planting, spraying, spreading and harvesting for optimal yields.

These efforts would offer both cost savings to the farmer and lower environmental impact, as inputs like fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide are used only where needed. Fewer passes around the field also means less fuel used. Most people would appreciate the advantages offered by their tech-savvy farm neighbor once they understand what’s going on.

Jiang said autonomous grain trucks will someday accompany harvesters. To reach these goals of automation, more companies will need to build greater robustness into their equipment to withstand conditions on the farm. Many companies (like his) began working on automation in the passenger car segment of the market.

“At some point, you might not need to ride in your combine or tractor but task it from a workstation,” Jiang said. “That’s the dream in about 10 years. A lot is driven by technology adoption. As people get comfortable with autonomy, it will be more common. You’ll start to see autonomous robo taxis. And eventually you’ll see it on the farm as a collective culture of getting used to machines doing work."

Just as farmers in the 1930s and ‘40s began to use engine-powered equipment instead of horse-drawn equipment, the farmers of the 2030s and 2040s will segue towards automated equipment.

Jiang believes that just as farmers have seized the advantages of GPS in the last two decades, they should embrace autonomous equipment. Jiang said that those who don’t adapt might be forced out of business someday, but all this hinges on economic benefit.

“If there’s no economic benefit, it won’t get adopted,” Jiang said. “But as long as there’s benefit, people will adopt it.”

Presently, many rural areas lack sufficient high speed internet access — an infrastructure problem that will need addressing before widespread use of autonomous equipment.

“In the next 10 to 20 years, there will be substantial changes in how farming is done, especially in light of labor shortages,” Jiang said. “There are tons of ways this tech can be used.”