Agricultural automation, ranging from tractors to sensors, drones, and artificial intelligence, can play an important role in making food production more efficient and environmentally friendly, said the annual State of Food and Agriculture report on Wednesday. While automation can raise fears of job displacement, said the report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, those concerns, while not totally misplaced, are overblown.
A key issue, the report said, is to assure access to the technology by small-scale producers and marginalized groups, such as women and youth, to prevent a widening of social inequality.
“Agricultural automation faces three specific challenges: to not leave marginalized groups behind, to avoid increased unemployment and job loss, and to prevent environmental damage,” said the report, which looked at 27 case studies from around the world. “Policies can play a role in addressing these challenges and ensuring that automation contributes to an inclusive and sustainable agricultural transformation. Therefore, action by policymakers will most likely be required.”
Qu Dongyu, the FAO’s director-general, said technological progress and increased productivity were vital to lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger. “What matters is how the process of automation is carried out in practice, not whether or not it happens. We must make sure that automation takes place in a way that is inclusive and promotes sustainability.”
The 2022 State of Food and Agriculture report is available here.