Source: NCDA&CS, 5/19/21


North Carolina’s 18 research stations are often thought of as a big piece of agriculture’s future. The research done on the stations helps farmers find better, more productive ways to produce more food and fiber for a growing population.

To keep moving agriculture into the future, the research stations are implementing several technologies that involve automation.

That includes automated steering of tractors and even some automated planting and automated application of insecticides and fertilizers. Automation also helps milk and feed calves while also regularly weighing them and detecting other elements of their health. The automation helps create better data for research, make work a bit more manageable and improve the way livestock and crop health are monitored.

The automation in tractors and attached equipment is highlighted below. More details about automation in milking and calf feeding will be shared in a future Part Two.

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