Can a farm run without human hands? Partly, it already has. In 2017, Harper Adams University’s Hands Free Hectare grew and harvested a crop of barley using only autonomous vehicles and drones, and by 2022 its successor, the Hands Free Farm, covered 35 hectares. People still plan, programme and supervise the machines.
- Hands Free Hectare: welcome to a farm without farmers
- Bugs for lunch? Crickets could soon be on our plates
- High-tech harvesting heralds a bright farming future
- Changing the face of farming, one step at a time
Imagine watching your favourite TV show and enjoying a cup of coffee. Suddenly, your phone buzzes. It’s a notification that your driverless tractor has finished spraying your crops. A few taps later, there’s aerial photos showing you the final result. This is how farmers might spend their afternoons in the future. And thanks to tech innovations that are rapidly advancing numerous industries - including agriculture - that scenario doesn’t seem so far fetched.
The agricultural sector has witnessed significant tech advances over the years, but the need for innovation is never-ending. Just think of the 8.2 billion people alive in 2024, a number the UN projects will peak at around 10.3 billion in the mid-2080s - conventional farming methods won’t be able to provide enough food for all of us. What’s more, the effects of climate change aren’t making it any easier for farmers to keep crop yields high. So, how can we prepare ourselves for the future? The solution is smart automation.
Hands Free Hectare: welcome to a farm without farmers
One success in farm automation comes from researchers at the Harper Adams University, who collaborated with Precision Decisions, a UK-based agricultural company specialising in precision farming solutions. With their ‘Hands Free Hectare’ project, the researchers wanted to automate every stage of crop production, from planting to monitoring, and harvesting. As a result of their research, one hectare of barley was produced without the need for human workers. The spring barley was harvested in September 2017: about 4.5 tonnes, just short of the 5 tonnes the team had hoped for, according to Harper Adams University.
To make this happen, they used already available machinery and modified it, adding new features such as a GPS system and cameras. For spraying and planting, the team used a tractor developed by a Tokyo-based agricultural equipment manufacturer. The tractor is smaller than the usual bulky equipment used on fields, which often compacts the soil and affects the overall health of the plants. For this reason, the researchers believe that the future of efficient farming can be found in fleets of small autonomous vehicles. The team has also used drones to collect soil samples, allowing them to monitor their field remotely. However, the project encountered some challenges. For instance, during the planting stage, the self-driving tractor didn’t follow its course in some parts of the field, and as a result, the crops weren’t planted in a regular line. The team did repeat the project with winter wheat in 2018, harvesting about 6.5 tonnes; the share of seeds drilled out of line fell from 2.82% to 0.35%. The project has since grown into the Hands Free Farm, which in 2022 harvested wheat, spring barley and winter beans across 35 hectares.
Bugs for lunch? Crickets could soon be on our plates
Unlike the Hands Free Hectare project, which focused on barley, Texas-based startup Aspire offers something completely different. And those with sensitive stomachs might not like the idea. Aspire is working on farming crickets (yes, the same crickets that provide the ‘background music’ in your garden on sultry summer nights), which might become our go-to food in the next few years. Aspire’s cricket factory, which opened its doors in August 2017, is leveraging technology to automate production. Instead of using a workforce limited by human needs such as food and sleep, the company integrated a robotic system that can monitor and feed the crickets 24 hours a day. Thanks to sensor technology, any time the crickets need more food, the robotic module will be there to provide it. The sensors of this ‘cricket mommy’ also proved to be useful for monitoring the cricket babies’ life stages, from hatching to adulthood. Using such tech, Aspire managed to increase its production and decrease labour costs, bringing this rather gross but excellent source of protein closer to markets around the globe.
As of 2017, the company was planning to expand its cricket farm within two years. Its current area is about 2,300 m2, which enables them to produce 22 million crickets per month. But by the end of 2019, the company hoped to expand to an area of 23,000 m2. Aspire later completed what it calls the world’s largest cricket production facility in London, Ontario, in 2022; after the company went into receivership, new owners bought it out in 2025 with plans to start cricket production there. For Aspire, producing crickets for human consumption isn’t just a weird trend. Instead, they see it as a better, greener alternative to the food we have on our plates. Crickets are a high-protein food, and rich in critical nutrients like calcium and iron. And above all, they don’t require large amounts of food and water to grow, in contrast to the cows, pigs, and chickens we now consume.
High-tech harvesting heralds a bright farming future
The perfect example of how future farms might work is provided by Taylor Farms, one of the biggest producers of freshly-picked fruits and vegetables in North America. According to figures from 2017, Taylor Farms harvests around 680,000 kilograms of lettuce every day in the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region in California. To make the entire process quick and efficient, it relies on autonomous equipment. For instance, its automated harvester eliminates the need for human workers, who used to spend eight or more hours a day harvesting the lettuces. The machine uses computer vision to recognise the lettuce before cutting it with a water jet system. The produce is then lifted to the top of the harvesting platform where workers can sort it. Later, in its packing plant, a robotic arm packs 60 to 80 lettuces per minute. Using robotic machinery in the packing stage is especially important for food safety, because, unlike human workers, robotic arms are less likely to transfer bacteria to the food. As of 2017, Taylor Farms used this automated system only for harvesting romaine lettuce, but it was planning to try it on iceberg lettuce as well - a bigger challenge since it’s more delicate.
Changing the face of farming one step at a time
As population growth and climate change continue to disrupt the agricultural sector, the adoption of new tech and new farming methods, from smart farming to high-tech vertical farms, is inevitable. Automated farming practices are saving both time and money, making them a feasible option for farmers. But concerns have been raised over whether or not that giant step toward robotic farming might make humans obsolete. According to Kieren Walsh, an agronomist on the Hands Free Hectare project, we don’t need to worry, because human workers will still have their place in the agriculture industry in the future. After all, who’s going to monitor all that machinery? Research based on the Hands Free Farm, published in Precision Agriculture in 2021, concluded that autonomous arable crop production is both technically and economically feasible, partly because the smaller machines can be used far more extensively. Although innovations will be fast and furious, it’ll take some time before modern farming transforms itself into a truly automated industry.
→ Keynote: AI & the future of agriculture
Richard van Hooijdonk is a trend watcher, futurist and international keynote speaker. Many trend watchers and futurists look at the future from a distance. Richard van Hooijdonk lives in it. His team consists of people and AI agents, and he has several chips implanted in his body. He has given more than 3,000 keynotes in more than 30 countries. View his keynotes →