How farming has evolved through history
I received this from Diamandis Newsletter. It looks at the evolution of farming. They identified four categories of farmers: Farmer 0.0, Farmer 1.0, Farmer 2.0 and Farmer 3.0. Largely, it is for U.S. and Western Europe. To an extent, Africa is still at Farmers 1.0 as agriculture remains human-intensive in the land. The interesting thing is that you cannot leapfrog Farmer 2.0 to Farmer 3.0 because despite all the AI, CRISPR, and sensors, you still need tractors, great seeds and fertilizers. So agtech or not, Africa needs major reforms to improve agriculture.
Let’s look back at how farming evolved through history.
Farmers 0.0 (Around 9000 BCE, Neolithic Revolution): The hunter-gatherer to agriculture transition gains momentum, and man cultivated the ability to domesticate plants for food production.
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Farmers 1.0 (until circa 19th century): Farmers spent all day in the field performing backbreaking labor, and agriculture made up 82 percent of U.S. jobs.
Farmers 2.0 (mid 20th century, Green Revolution): From the invention of the first farm tractor in 1812 through today, transformative mechanical biochemical technologies (fertilizer) boosted yields and made the job of farming easier, driving the U.S. farm job rate down to less than 2 percent today.
Farmers 3.0: In the near future, farmers will leverage exponential technologies (e.g. AI, networks, sensors, robotics, drones), CRISPR and genetic engineering, and new business models to solve the world’s greatest food challenges and efficiently feed the 8-billion-plus people on Earth.
An important driver of the Farmer 3.0 evolution is the delocalization of agriculture driven by vertical and urban farms. Vertical farms and urban agriculture are empowering a new breed of agriculture entrepreneurs.
Same story everywhere, even with all the shout and noise about agriculture, the hard part is yet to be overcome.
Land reform is still a thorny issue, before we can talk about moving from stone age practices to modernisation of the farming processes. After which we can truly feel the impact of Agtech and its constituents.
So much work ahead...