WHAT ARE THE MEGA TRENDS OF 2020 IN AGRICULTURE?
Following a decade with the introduction of societal shifters such as the smartphone and the adoption of robotic milkers, 2020 could be the starting block for the fastest technological race in farming history. The combination of big data with cutting-edge science, artificial intelligence and cloud-connected technology has the potential to revolutionize our industry. We asked three farm futurists to share 20 of their predictions for the next decade. Conservation Agriculture... Cover Crops. Cover crop plantings surged to 15.4 million acres in the U.S., according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. That trend will likely continue due to their role in soil health, nutrient management and carbon sequestration. “Agriculture is the only industry that can prove it can sequester more carbon than what Mother Nature's already sequestering,” says Lowell Catlett, former economist at New Mexico State University. Carbon Farming. In the next decade, private companies or government prog...