In the last 60 years the West World has revolutionized the ways of breeding, planting, harvesting and storing grains. The ability to cover vast amounts of land with the same type of crop without losing it all to a pest, or a disease, is impressive.
Additionally, we (as an species) have been able to automate big parts of the job of growing commodity crops down to the point of removing the need of operators and human intervention in large parts of the process. Combines, Tractors, Irrigators, Farm Management Systems, Large scale storage units, are being monitored and connected to automatically report in real-time all the data from the operation. It is impressive indeed.
However, that is not Farming. That is Industry. Food for the human beings is more that sustenance, is a psychological connection with the past, is a visceral connection with the present, is a deep cultural connection with our owns. And the Industrial Agricultural advancements of the last 60 years are not that. Commodity crops don’t build cultures, don’t enrich the human spirit. They perpetuate what Farming created first, but in a cheap and fast way. Unfortunately with the opposite effects.
Farming is more like Art. A Farmer is an Artist. Capable of working together with the rest of the ecosystem to nurture the soil, the plant and everything else that surrounds the Farming practices as colors in their palette. And as Creative Beings, and collaborators of Nature, they can create new life where was none before. The great Farmers, as the great Artists, have been able to produce impressive and unique experiences for the human spirit. In conspiracy with the land, they are in search of new colors, shapes, flavors, sounds. They are our for new techniques, new approaches, new horizons.
I believe in the Renaissance of Farming. In the new wave of Farmers, that as artists, will help humanity nurture their connection with our roots, bring us new understandings of our present and will provide us with all the required ingredients to help us build a delightful future.
Farmers need to create. Leave the industry to the robots.