IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERSTATE DEFLATIONARY PRESSURES:

The rise of robotics and artificial intelligence might help usher in a second, even greener Green Revolution. Robots are already harvesting crops, weeding, and collecting data to improve soil management. Soon, they will be as common in farm pastures and greenhouses as they are in medical labs or Amazon warehouses. The hope is that AI can help meet food and climate goals by adding more precision to agriculture, thus allowing farmers to grow more and waste less.

AI-powered programs, like IBM's Watson, combine data on weather patterns, crop yields, and market prices to advise farmers regarding the best time to plant, the precise amount of fertilizers to use, and when to harvest for peak ripeness. Researchers at Microsoft and Wageningen University in the Netherlands are growing cucumbers with the help of algorithms, combining the efforts of humans and AI to boost yields while using fewer natural resources.

In California, a state that grows irrigated fruits and vegetables at a large scale, such technologies mean real savings in seasonal labor requirements. For example, a $150,000 "grape-gobbling robot" can sort two tons of grapes in 12 minutes, replacing 15 human workers - as well as reducing the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and water, while producing higher yields.

In the past, agricultural automation was characterized by large industrial farms using heavy machinery to boost yields. Mechanization on this scale increased producers' dependence on fossil fuels and the unbridled use of chemicals. The steep cost also meant that small farmers, especially in poorer countries, lacked access, creating an uneven playing field.

Digital technologies are changing this to benefit both large-scale and small-scale farms. Farmers have taken a page from ride-sharing apps like Uber, using GPS tracking devices and fleet-management software that allows small producers to share assets required for agricultural mechanization. Some companies, like TROTRO Tractor in Ghana and Tun Yat in Myanmar, allow small farmers to share the cost of renting a tractor they could not afford alone.

Digital support can also upgrade traditional mechanization, even if it is not advanced technology. For example, GPS devices that track cattle ("smart collars") and transmit data about animals' health and movements can determine the amount of feed to dispense and automate the feeding process, improving productivity.

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