Data, drones and robots: futurist’s vision of the future of farming – The Advocate

Futurist Dr Paul Higgins on agriculture in the future

Farming future: Dr Paul Higgins said farmers need to act now to prepare for changes in the future. Picture: Brodie Weeding

The future on earth will bring more people with more wealth and a demand for more animal protein.

From this premise, futurist Dr Paul Higgins told the audience at the Yolla Co-Op open day that it was possible to move into a golden age of agriculture if the right strategies were put in place today.

Digital systems will underpin new value in agriculture, he said.

The former dairy cattle veterinarian, abattoir manager, farmer and agribusiness consultant now works with Emergent Futures as a futurist consultant.

He said farmers were already seeing the benefits of data analytics which reduce costs but in the future, big data could be used in real time to model various scenarios, such as with a Fitbit for cows device.

Robotics and automation would be a big part of running a productive farm, from robotic apple pickers to automated cucumber sorters, that would move some processes onto the farm.

Drones would also play a part in managing crops and livestock.

A recent Goldman Sachs report identified the agriculture industry as the second biggest market in the world for drones.

Dr Higgins sees drones being used as a shared utility in the future, where farms can collect and share data, and put out bids for companies to create value from the data.

He believes that cooperatives will have a competitive advantage in the future in that they will be able to pool their data, expertise and political power to get ahead.

Dr Higgins challenged farmers to scan wide, think deep.

Unless you get started now, youll get left behind.

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Data, drones and robots: futurist's vision of the future of farming - The Advocate