Surviving The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The world is about to experience profound changes in the way in which industries function, and farming is no exception. Farmers need to become aware of new technologies that may affect the profitability and global competitiveness of agricultural production.

- Wessel Lemmer And Adri Esterhuyse

According to Prof Klaus Schwab of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, author of The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the revolution that is currently under way will transform the world more significantly than the previous three industrial revolutions did, as it is moving more rapidly and taking place on a larger scale.

The first industrial revolution unfolded as the use of steam power replaced reliance on manual labour to cultivate soil in the 1800s. The second was marked by the start of mass production of agricultural crops by the 1900s. The third is the digital revolution: the advent of computers during the latter half of the 20th century.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which began early in the 21st century, involves the Internet and artificial intelligence. It encompasses smart machines, material science, nano technology, energy and biology. Moreover, it connects these fields across different platforms.

It is also defined by unprecedented returns to scale. This means that, in future, farmers should be able to produce more or greater value products with fewer employment-related costs. They will also increasingly start to automate the production process.

We shall see self-driving tractors, harvesters and other agricultural equipment, 3D printing of machinery parts or windmills on farm, and the use of advanced robotics in precision agriculture to plant, seed and weed, or spray crops.

Drones are already used to improve the efficiency of disease control, determine the water needs in orchards and improve the utilisation of fertiliser.

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