Source: NCSU, 6/1/22


It’s been roughly 80 years since tractors started to replace horses — not to mention the occasional mule — as the source of power for farmers plowing their fields. And for generations of farmers, that clunky piece of machinery was about as high-tech as things got for the planting and harvesting of their crops.

Recent years have seen technology start to creep into agriculture, with some farmers relying on drones to survey their fields or allowing GPS to steer a driverless tractor. But in an age when technology seems to be overtaking everything at a head-spinning pace, agriculture has largely stuck to its roots.

That’s about to change, primarily because farmers must become more efficient and sustainable in order to feed a growing planet while farm acreage is dwindling, extreme weather is increasing and the cost of everything from fertilizer to labor is on the rise. And NC State is helping to lead the charge, one that will utilize everything from artificial intelligence to robotics to fundamentally change how our food is grown, fertilized and harvested.

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