Automation use jumps on U.S. farms, report says

A study of American farmers’ adoption of precision agriculture technology indicates that during the first two decades of the 21st century, acreage farmed with automated systems has increased ten-fold or more.

The findings are reported in a study conducted by Kansas State University precision agriculture economist Terry Griffin and colleagues with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, according to a university news release.

The report, “Precision Agriculture in the Digital Era: Recent Adoption on U.S. Farms,” is available online. Griffin said the report studies adoption of precision technology on several major crops, including corn, soybean, winter wheat, grain sorghum and more.

“The most adopted technologies typically have the word ‘automated’ in their names,” Griffin said. “The reason for that is that they tend to make life a little bit easier for the operators than if they didn’t have the technology.”