May 11, 2017

Before, during, and after our visit with Kevin Butt, the main question that pervaded my thoughts regarded the primary goal of precision agriculture: economic growth or environmental protection? The technology that Mr. Butt introduced us to controlled for the application of seeds, water, pesticides, fertilizer, etc. to the fields. This allows limited inputs which reduces costs, resource use, environmental degradation, and labor. While the technology and mechanisms used for precision agriculture are likely developed with a mix of these goals in mind, it’s important that we understand and revisit the principal goals of this transition to achieve efficiency in agricultural productivity.

I questioned whether the technology involved in precision ag was financially accessible to family-owned farm operations, and Kevin explained that the ability to afford the updates depended largely on the productivity of your land, that is how many acres are farmed. He told us that many of the farmers he knows use precision ag for fertilizer application and that with their switch to the technology, he and his family were able to reduce their inputs (and thus their costs) significantly. While they benefit marginally from the introduction of precision planters and drones on their farm, larger industrial operations presumably save even more with larger tracts of land and the ability to use the latest and most efficient technology. This begs the question of which groups of farmers these technological advancements target and benefit most.

Farmers operating family businesses and corporations operating industrial farms may have divergent interests and goals for their operations. While we cannot assume that small farms are more environmentally sustainable, the decisions made on larger farms have bigger environmental impacts than smaller scale operations. Farmers who own their land may feel attachment that encourages stewardly behaviors, recognizing the role of their land as a piece of inheritance for their offspring, whereas corporate agriculture decisions are heavily driven by the goal of profit. Precision agriculture thus has the ability to support small scale farm operations and limit the potential environmental devastation by corporate ag, or could gradually increase the gap between the economic success of family farms and corporate farms, increasing small farm buy-in and dissolving family operations. If our goal is to preserve small-scale farms and encourage environmental stewardship in land holders, we should find ways to make precision technology more affordable for these groups.