Will farming be fully automated in the future
The World Bank says we'll need to produce 50% more food by 2050 if the global population continues to rise at its current pace.
But the effects of climate change could see crop yields falling by more than a quarter.
So autonomous tractors, ground-based sensors, flying drones and enclosed hydroponic farms could all help farmers produce more food, more sustainably at lower cost.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs is far more bullish, predicting a $240bn market over the next five years. Manufacturers including John Deere, CNH Industrial and AGCO are all fighting to corner the market in driverless tractors.
The Hands Free Hectare project will use flying drones and automated tractors in the coming year to grow and harvest a cereal crop.
The latest generation of this trundling four-wheeled robot can make a cut every five seconds. It has six cameras - some with infrared sensors - and two arms, and is controlled by a tablet computer inside.
The machine learns as it goes and can trim the grass around each vine. An onboard solar-powered battery gives 10-12 hours of charge, so with a change of battery, it can work day and night.
Back outside, drones are monitoring crop growth rates, spotting disease, and even spraying crops with pesticides and herbicides
From 1950 to 2010, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), agricultural labourers as a percentage of the workforce declined from 81% to 48.2% in developing countries, and from 35% to 4.2% in developed ones.
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