In the near future we may see robots replacing workers on farms, reports The Rural Blog.
In the past, the main barrier to replacing human labor with mechanical workers has been price. But now, those costs are lowering, according to a Boston-based firm that studies new technology. Meanwhile, farm wages are rising. When wages overtake the cost to run robots in the fields, humans will be replaced.
Auto-steer tractors and harvesters have already been put to use by some farmers. And drones and GPS systems are now common tools in ag circles.
A recent study predicts that “The gap between labor cost and auto-steer- or edrive-assisted labor in U.S. corn farming is relatively small and will become negligible by 2020.”