Let the Revolution Begin: The 4th Revolution and Precision Agriculture

According to Klaus Schwab, founder of the WEF (World Economic Forum) the 4^th Industrial Revolution is upon us. This new era will be a convergence of information and communication technology. There are many exciting new technologies on the horizon such as a google car, Amazon’s Drone Delivery system, and Dr. Watson: an AI doctor. In this article, it foretells the changes coming to the agricultural field.

There are 3 areas that will have a major impact on agriculture. The most important is precision Agriculture. With 30-50% of produced food being discarded, managing crop production is a huge step. The return of human resources that had left in previous generations will find that rural areas provide the only labor that gives time for rest and relaxation. Lastly, new technologies will solve many problems that human wisdom and experience just can’t account for, such as the likelihood of pest occurrence and weather prediction.

In History class, we learned about previous Industrial Revolutions and how they changed our world. From steam power to electric power and information technology to today's digital technology. We do not yet know how this will unfold but we do know that there has never been a time of greater promise, or greater potential for peril.