A new report, Crop Farming 2030 – The Reinvention of the Sector states that one of the most influential trends affecting farming practices through 2030 will be the use of precision farming. According to this report, 60 percent of farmers interviewed for this study say they believe that precision farming will become widely adopted by 2030.
Experts and farmers alike believe that this spread of technology will be aided by the increased use of sensors, software, and wireless connectivity on farming implements. In other words, things like plows, planters, spreaders, and sprayers will become intelligent equipment.
In light of these findings, it is no surprise that the agriculture investment sector is absolutely booming with no signs of slowing down. Silicon Valley, venture capitalists, and private equity companies are all looking to invest massive amounts of capital to pursue technology startups. From coast to coast, U.S. entrepreneurs are looking for the next best thing in agriculture technology.
Investment community members are especially interested in new data technologies that will boost Ag production and improve yields. And these technologies will not be hard to find with everyone from academics to engineers working to find the next best thing in Ag technology. It’s a good thing, too. With the global population continuing to rise, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization expects the demand for agricultural outputs to increase by 60 percent compared with the early 2000s, while global cultivation is expected to increase negligibly.
Ag technology investors also are focused on finding technology that will help agriculture meet the many other challenges it faces in the coming years. A majority of these challenges are a result of an emphasis on climate change and policies that are being put into place to mitigate agriculture’s adverse effects on the environment.
While investment in Ag technology makes sense, some question the sudden groundswell of interest from the investment community. Most experts trace it to three trends:
1. Aside from the tech sector, agriculture has outperformed all other sectors since 1999.
2. New innovative technologies in agriculture present many first market opportunities for technologies that still need to be developed or are in the early stages of development.
3. More informed consumers mean an increased interest in the food system and the impact of agriculture on the environment.
It is an exciting time in agriculture due to emerging technology and investors wanting to develop even more sophisticated technology. If all goes well, it appears that farmers, consumers, and investors can all benefit from emerging Ag technology.