{"id":14581,"date":"2016-11-14T22:02:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T03:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/combining-agriculture-and-technology\/"},"modified":"2016-11-14T22:07:25","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T03:07:25","slug":"combining-agriculture-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/combining-agriculture-and-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Combining Agriculture and Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are over 7 billion people in the world and that number is expected to expand to over 9 billion by 2050.[1]<\/a> All of these people will need to eat which is placing pressures on the agricultural industry to improve crop yields. In addition, as the world economy improves, especially in countries like China and India, diets are improving and increasing \u201cdemand for meat, eggs, and dairy, boosting pressure to grow more corn and soybeans to feed more cattle, pigs, and chickens. If these trends continue, the double whammy of population growth and richer diets will require us to roughly double the amount of crops we grow by 2050.\u201d[2]<\/a> The solution to this problem is farming smarter and increasing resource utilization. John Deere is helping farmers to do this via technology in their agricultural equipment.<\/p>\n

Farming Industry in United States <\/strong><\/p>\n

In the United States 97% of farms are family owned and 88% of the farms are considered small.[3]<\/a> The main crops in the United States and their values are shown in the table below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Major Crops in the USA<\/td>\n1997
\n(in US$ billions)<\/td>\n		2014
\n(in US$ billions)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Corn<\/u><\/td>\n$24.4<\/td>\n$52.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Soybeans<\/u><\/td>\n$17.7<\/td>\n$40.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wheat<\/u><\/td>\n$8.6<\/td>\n$11.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alfalfa<\/u><\/td>\n$8.3<\/td>\n$10.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cotton<\/u><\/td>\n$6.1<\/td>\n$5.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hay, (Other than Alfalfa)<\/u><\/td>\n$5.1<\/td>\n$8.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tobacco<\/u><\/td>\n$3.0<\/td>\n$1.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rice<\/u><\/td>\n$1.7<\/td>\n$3.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sorghum<\/u><\/td>\n$1.4<\/td>\n$1.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Barley<\/u><\/td>\n$.9<\/td>\n$.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nSource:
\n1997\u00a0<\/em>USDA-NASS reports[4]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/td>\n		Source:
\n2015\u00a0<\/em>USDA-NASS reports[5]<\/a><\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


\nNew Technology Options<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many farms have been passed down through generations and along with the land, knowledge and operating models have transferred as well. Farmers rely heavily on intuition and experience. In my experience, it can be extremely difficult to convince a farmer to try something new because the risks are just too great.<\/p>\n

To increase crop yields John Deere is developing and integrating new technologies into their farming equipment, especially in combines. A combine is a machine that is used to harvest a crop.<\/p>\n

\"harvesting-combine\"<\/p>\n

Some examples of technology in new combines are:<\/p>\n