7 ms·
I think the subtext here is obvious to people on HN, but isn't this because so much value is generated using electrons on increasingly efficient computer system
by eutropia 7y ago
I think the subtext here is obvious to people on HN, but isn't this because so much value is generated using electrons on increasingly efficient computer systems?
- sp332 7y agoThat doesn't explain crop tonnage going up while fertilizer and water use are going down.
- atonse 7y agoIs this partly due to things like drip irrigation?
- novok 7y agoA hypothetical example is drones going through a field and manually picking out weeds, increasing yield with the same amount of resources. Similarly you can get fine grained ‘crop analytics’ through drones scanning the field and acting in response.
- sachdevap 7y agoAnd on what scale is this actually happening?
- azernik 7y agoVery large scale, just not in the exact form GP is describing; instead, farmers drop stationary internet-connected sensors all over their fields, their sampling equipment GPS-tags results from every core sample, and tractors have computer-controlled equipment to feed location and quantity information to chemical dispensers. See e.g. https://home.agrian.com/what-we-do/ https://home.agrian.com/what-we-do/ for a company that manages this process.
- sachdevap 7y agoI am not at all denying the benefits of technology, or that companies are working in it, but I am skeptical of how widespread it is right now. Therefore, I would want to see some numbers to verify such a claim.
- azernik 7y agoI know that there is a profitable company whose people I have talked with, whose business is built on managing the data involved.
- HeyLaughingBoy 7y agoI don't have any figures citations since my knowledge comes from when I used to hang out on Precision Agriculture forums, but it's common and getting more so. As drones get less expensive, it's easy to sit in your den and fly over the fields looking for the areas where you should go out and spray some more, or drive over in your UTV and take a closer look at that "weird spot" on the "back 80." Farmers are very aware of the benefits of technology (why else would you spend half a million $ on a combine?) and will take it up if they see a benefit.
- sachdevap 7y agoI am sure they are. But a leap from combines to decentralized sensing using drones is a big one, and I'd want to see some numbers to verify this.
- HeyLaughingBoy 7y agoRe-reading the post, it seems that he and I might be talking about different things. I'm referring to farmers using remote controlled drones with cameras to check the state of their crops/fields without having to drive over hundreds of acres. That's an actual thing and is quite common. OP seems to be talking about some kind of automated drone weeding (or just phrased what he meant poorly).
- novok 7y agoYou should go google and research the numbers yourself.
- sachdevap 7y agoThank you for the advice!
- doctorpangloss 7y agoDid it occur to you that, like ordinary consumer products, industrial products also oversell their efficacy? There was just a paper released about a widely used pesticide that did not appear to actually increase yields. If the question is, how does crop tonnage go up without water and fertilizer use, maybe the answer really is a computer helped people plan better and be less wasteful. Or all the least efficient farmers were bankrupted out of the market.
- wil421 7y agoDo you have any sources for your claims? I saw the article about the pesticide on HN or reddit but not anything else you claim.
- Circuits 7y agoI can give some credence to the claim. I work for TeeJet a subset of Spray Systems and we design and manufacture application technology for the AG industry: "At TeeJet Technologies our single focus is on application technology. Our company and our products have been part of agricultural applications since the first crop protection products came onto the market in the 1940's. Our control systems date back to some of the earliest in-field uses of electronics in agriculture. This experience in the fields of spraying, fertilizing, and seeding means nobody is better suited to provide quality products and technical solutions for your business."
- colechristensen 7y agoCorn yields have been going up a bit more than 1.5 bushels per acre since hybrid breeding started in the 1930's going from a steady ~25 bu/acre to >170/acre today. Farmers haven't just been adding a bit more fertilizer and water every year, and it has been going on long before computers. Many factors go into it: soil management with tilling practices and fertilizers, pest and weed management, improvements in irrigation and drainage, better harvesters which leave less on the ground, but very much most importantly, plant genetics.
- shawn-butler 7y ago
- weberc2 7y agoTechnological advances in agriculture would presumably explain it, many of which are probably computer driven (precision agriculture, data-driven agriculture being two examples).
- danans 7y agoMuch more precise usage of water/fertilizer to optimize yield/input can be enabled by computation and data.
- kevan 7y agoPrecision Agriculture[1] is the term for anyone looking to learn more. Even small farms now track all inputs/outputs on every acre they farm. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_agriculture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_agriculture
- kube-system 7y agoThe Land O Lakes CEO was showing this off on 60 minutes just this past week. Check out 5:22 in the video here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/land-olakes-ceo-beth-ford-and-the-changing-landscape-of-america-farms-60-minutes-2019-10-06/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/land-olakes-ceo-beth-ford-and-t...
- chrisco255 7y agoCO2 has helped crop yields.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoWhat about an increase in organic farming? Certified organic crops sell for higher prices, and all the big shops I see in California sell a lot of that. I'm under the impression that organic farms don't use petroleum derived fertilizers.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 7y agoGlyphosate. Glyphosate, with GMO crops or without, means you don't need to till your land. It's enabled a huge fraction of productive acreage to become no-till or low-till, which preserves soil nutrients, aids soil water absorption, reduces agricultural runoff, improves cover-cropping, and more. There are a variety of farming practices that contribute to the efficiency of agriculture, but no-till is absolutely central. The late 90s through early oughts saw big increases in no-till acreage, up to ~20% of all land by 2002, precisely when fertilizer inputs started to decline. It sits between 40-50% now.
- codesushi42 7y agoNo, it's because these things have been replaced by plastics.
- eutropia 7y agoAt least partially I'm sure that's the case, however it looks like we're approaching the apex of that trend as well: TFA: >> The growth in plastic consumption has slowed down greatly, to less than 2 percent per year between 2009 and 2015. This is almost 14 percent slower than GDP growth over the same period. So while America is not yet post-peak in its use of plastic, it's quickly closing in on this milestone. It will be interesting to see what our other material trends do once we do hit peak plastic, if we shift to using more paper and aluminum as people push back against plastics for their various drawbacks.
- codesushi42 7y agoThat's irrelevant because plastics are not produced domestically in the US. But the international production explains the decreased consumption of those other raw materials. This article is misleading horse shit.