posted ago by Jolo ago by Jolo +8 / -0

Research needed! I'm a cyber guy in the Midwest, lots of noise lately about big ag tech but it's surfacing as university or start-up run tech organizations. Sounds very 2030-ish, usual excuses like labor shortage etc. The Grand Farm for example is pretty cool, lots of great stuff, but the underpinnings feel very globohomo-ish. Talking with a major player in this space and they fear that when this tech is fully operational, autonomous tractors, watering, feeding etc. One of his biggest concerns is, the region does not comply with directives, what happens to production? If the farmer wants to produce edible beans instead of soybeans what happens to Farmers equipment when it can all be completely in all the controlled?

What happens when thousands of farmers are being paid via grants to get rid of their traditional tractors and move to fully automated or autonomy enabled tractors?

Does any of this stuff, with massive investments by Microsoft, correlate with Bill Gates' recent moves in ND and other parts of the Midwest?

The folks appear all very excited because they get to be part of something cool for a change. There's a heavy dosage of in the name of safety we should have uavs flying everywhere to solve all the problems...

Which again are all great ideas but we definitely need to keep our eyes on it.