It's been a big topic of conversation about bringing Silicon Valley-style innovation to America's heartland. Silicon Valley is still the best place to get tech for the heartland.John Deere announced Thursday that it will acquire Bear Flag Robotics (a Silicon Valley startup that makes fully-autonomous tractors for farms) for $250 million.Bear Flag retrofits regular tractor with the sensors, control systems and computers required to operate autonomously. One farmer can remotely control a fleet autonomously-tiling robot tractors from a remote location using the company's technology.John Deere's endorsement of this type of fully autonomous technology is a sign that it is coming, according to George Kantor, a Carnegie Mellon University roboticist who specializes on the use of robots for agriculture. Autonomous tractors are particularly important, he says, because they can be used in many areas of agriculture.Bear Flags technology allows tractors to follow GPS-guided routes autonomously. However, some tractors can already do this. This company borrowed from the self-driving vehicle industry innovations that were then made available to everyone. It uses computer vision and lidar to not only navigate, but also analyze the soil behind a tractor.John Deere is putting their stamp upon this type of fully autonomous technology. This means it's really coming.Aubrey Donnellan is cofounder and CEO of Bear Flag Robotics.John Deere founded in 1837 and now sees robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence as key ingredients to the future of agriculture. Blue River Technology, another Silicon Valley startup that makes intelligent weed-killing robotics, was purchased by John Deere for $305 million.Technologists who are interested in robotics and autonomous vehicle development will find this field very exciting, according to Daniel Leibfried (director of autonomy and intelligent solutions at John Deere).Although machines have been used in agriculture for a long time, the industry is seeing a rise in automation as AI and robotics make it possible to automate processes in new ways. Experts predict that there will be more automation to meet the growing demand for food and labor, as well as to reduce environmental damage caused by intensive farming.Drones can now autonomously inspect crops on farms to spot disease signs and estimate yields. There are a growing number of robots that can do more complicated farmwork, such as harvesting crops and milking livestock. Iron Ox and Bowery, two startups, are creating greenhouses that optimize food production using robotics, sensors, and AI.Robotics is still unable to do simple tasks. For example, picking grapes and tomatoes might seem like a simple task for humans but is very difficult for robots.Kantor believes that robots will eventually be able to do these kinds of tasks. They will either need to be towed or integrated into the autonomous tractor Bear Flag is developing.Research Drive, an analyst firm, predicts that revenue from agricultural robots will grow by 19 percent annually between 2018-2026 and $16.6 billion.Potentially, automation in agriculture could lead to a rise in unemployment. According to the US Department of Agriculture, approximately 2.6 million US jobs are still in agriculture as of October 2020.Ali Moghimi is an assistant professor at UC Davis and teaches precision agriculture. He believes that robotics and AI will be more widely adopted in agriculture than other industries due to the complexity of farming and its cyclical nature. He believes that automation is inevitable because it can increase productivity and also reduce environmental damage, such as automatically detecting excessive nitrogen fertilizer use.Moghimi believes that recent advances in AI will revolutionize farming. This is the way we must go.Here are more great WIRED stories
