Farms have changed a lot in the last 50 years. Farms are bigger, livestock are usually raised inside, yields are higher, less manual labor is needed, and it’s not common to see dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, and poultry on the same farm. Why is this? The answer is simple. Technology.
A lot of sectors in our economy are also affected by the progression of technology, and one of this is Agriculture. It serves as the backbone of our economy. Its scope includes food supply and production, raising livestock, soil cultivation, and marketing. In this modern generation, technology helps in developing strong economy where the modernization unleashed the spark of geniuses for the betterment of agriculture by the application of innovations. Advancement of technology resulted to the modernization of agriculture. This impacted agriculture in a lot of aspects.
This revolution of technology has changed agriculture into a futuristic way of farming. For instance, improving livestock breeds is not a new practice. Humans began domesticating animals more than 10,000 years ago. Early farmers selected livestock for their adaption to specific climates and breed them to improve productivity. While the practice is not new, the technology used to improve livestock genetics and breed animals has changed dramatically in recent years. Animal Genetics work to identify elements within genes that can enhance animal growth, health, and ability to utilize nutrients. These genetic advances can increase production while reducing environmental impacts.
Significantly, modernization in crop genetics and pest management helps plant breeders to speed up the time it takes to get the desired improvement in crop developments as well as the plant’s insect resistance, drought tolerance, herbicide tolerance, and disease resistance. This technology gives farmers and additional tool to help increase crop yields.
Technology also improved farm equipment which probably had the most significant impact on how farmers raise crops and care for livestock. Tractors, planters, and combines are much larger and efficient. Livestock barns have automated feeders. Robotic milking machines milk cows. These technologies and others have enabled farmers to produce more with less labor.
Aside from crops and machineries, technologies have also large impact on livestock facilities. Aside from beef cattle, livestock are usually raised inside climate-controlled barns. Farmers do this to protect them from predators, extreme weather conditions, and diseases spread by animals and people. Raising livestock inside also enables farmers to utilize technology. Many livestock barns have Wi-Fi and automated feed and climate control systems. Farmers can monitor a cow in labor or adjust the temperature in a barn from their smart phones. If the power goes out, back-up generators start and the farmer is alerted with a text. This technology enables farmers to be more efficient and better care for their animals.
It is very amazing how technology have changed our agriculture for good but we can’t remove the fact that this modernization is not just all for the betterment but then has an equal and opposite impacts. For instance, application of technology limits or destroys the natural habitat of most wild creatures, and leads to soil erosion. The use of fertilizers can alter the biology of rivers and lakes and pesticides have numerous negative health effects in workers who apply them, people that line nearby the area of application or downstream/downwind from it, and consumers who eat the pesticides which remain on their food. These are some of the negative impacts of technology in our agriculture.
These problems with regards to agriculture are addressed and solved by the people who are responsible for the application of engineering in agriculture known as the “Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers”.
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineers applies engineering science and designs to the processes and systems involved in the sustainable production, post-production and processing of safe food, feed, fiber, timber and other agricultural and biological materials and the efficient conservation, utilization, and management of natural and renewable resources in order to enhance human health in harmony with the environment. They are responsible in the application of technology in agriculture to modernize and improve the quality of farming. I, myself as a student who took up the course Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering felt responsible in solving problems regarding agriculture. I want to create change to the Agriculture sector for its betterment and to be one of the prime movers of our economy.
Most certainly, Agricultural and Biosystems Enginners, Agricultural scientists and leaders have a moral obligation to warn the political, educational, and religious leaders about the magnitude and seriousness of the arable land, food and population problems that lie ahead, even with breakthroughs in agricultural technology. If we fail to do so, we will be negligent in our duty and inadvertently may be contributing to the pending chaos of incalculable millions of deaths by starvation. But we must also speak to policy makers - unequivocally and convincingly - that global food insecurity will not disappear without new technology; to ignore this reality will make future solutions all the more difficult to achieve.
References:
https://iowaagliteracy.wordpress.com/2018/06/02/5-ways-technology-has-changed-farming/
https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2016/ra_10915_2016.html
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