The Rise of AgTech: How It's Transforming the American Farming Landscape

Modern farming has come a long way from its roots. Farming operations are beginning to look a lot less like Green Acres and more like Silicon Valley. Today, AgTech plays a crucial role in almost every aspect of a commercial farm. But it’s about more than just innovation for innovation’s sake. Much of this technology will help us solve real problems of pollution, soil degradation, and food deserts.

What Is AgTech?

If you’re not familiar with the term, AgTech is a combination of the words “agricultural” and “technology.” There are hundreds of different types of AgTech being used on farms and other commercial agrarian enterprises today. Most are employed to help farmers improve their yields, profitability, and sustainability. 

Today, AgTech is big business. Each year, venture capitalists worldwide invest billions of dollars in AgTech firms, and the number is on the rise. These investors hope to solve problems relating to feeding a growing global population while improving the productivity and working conditions of farmers. They also hope to make agriculture more sustainable in an effort to combat climate change. The good news is that technologies are being developed and deployed to help address each of these problems for an overall healthier, more environmentally-friendly agricultural model.

Top AgTech Trends

The types of agricultural technologies are too numerous to list here, but a few significant trends are capturing the attention of investors and farmers alike. Here are some of our favorite trends in AgTech today.

Indoor Vertical Farm Techniques

To feed a growing urban population without wasting precious resources to transport food over thousands of miles, we need to bring agriculture into urban environments. Since urban space is at a premium and there isn’t room for acres of fields and crops in the city, traditional farming methods simply won’t work there. The need for urban agriculture is one key reason why indoor vertical farming is intriguing to many in the AgTech world. 

An indoor vertical farm grows crops in trays or towers stacked high within a greenhouse or other indoor farming facility. With this technology, companies like Eden Green Technology can produce about 500 tons of leafy greens per year, using only an acre-and-a-half of space. And since hydroponic farms don’t require soil and feature climate control technology, they can be placed in areas where farming would otherwise be impossible due to climate conditions. These vertical farm greenhouses can also produce a dozen or more harvests per year, with no dependence on or worries regarding outdoor seasonal changes.

Robotics and Automation 

With so many repetitive farming tasks, it’s no wonder robotics and automation are a good fit for AgTech. Yet, the delicate nature of many crops makes this type of farming technology a challenge. Fortunately, many robotics firms are taking up that challenge and producing options that allow machines to do some of the back-breaking labor required on the farm. 

The Berry 7 (B7) robot from Harvest CROO Robotics can handle tasks as delicate and sensitive as picking strawberries. The robot can move leaves aside, inspect the berries beneath, and then gently pick only those berries ready for harvest. A single robotic harvester can pick eight acres of strawberries in a single day, solving the farm labor shortage by replacing about 30 human pickers with just one robotic harvester. This technology would have been unthinkable just a generation ago.

Regenerative Agriculture

It’s no secret — especially in farming communities — that we cannot continue the way we have been in recent years. Old farming practices are depleting the soil, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, and generally an unsustainable practice. Regenerative agriculture seeks to not only stop the harm caused by these methods but to turn them around, putting nutrients back into the soil and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere as we grow crops and livestock.

Some of these solutions are low-tech — holistic grazing practices, for example, were in use for centuries before commercial agriculture became the norm. But increasingly, farmers are turning to AgTech to help them preserve Earth’s natural resources and farm sustainably. Part of the problem is that regenerative agriculture methods require more attention to detail than traditional commercial farming. AI software and high-tech monitoring systems allow farmers to innovate their practices and produce crops that are actually good for the environment.

Biotech for Agriculture

Biotechnology, which is technology related to living things, has been used in agriculture for decades. In the 1990s, biologists began developing genetically engineered plants and animals designed to produce more food faster. Even before that, selective breeding and crossbreeding processes have brought us better and more unique plants and livestock. But today’s biotechnology is making great strides toward improving farm output, raising farm incomes, and reducing losses due to stress and disease.

Current biotechnology trends include developments toward herbicide tolerance, stacked traits, insect tolerance, and more. Companies like PivotBio are offering advanced fertilizer solutions designed to boost crop yields and protect the environment at the same time. Nutrien Ag Solutions offers high-performing seeds for healthier crops. These are just two examples out of the hundreds on the market. In fact, the worldwide agricultural biotechnology market could reach more than $25 billion USD by 2025. 

It’s safe to say that technology in agriculture is here to stay, and it’s making a big difference in the way crops are planted, grown, and harvested. With these cutting-edge technologies and many more, we hope to see a cleaner, more efficient, and more sustainable agriculture industry in the near future.