Thursday, October 22, 2026
Science

The assumption about farm automation that may be wrong

You've likely heard this assumption: When AI-enabled and autonomous machines arrive on the farm, jobs will disappear. But researchers at the University of California, Davis, who studied 16 fruit tree operations in California and Washington for three years, found that automation still takes human kno...

The assumption about farm automation that may be wrong
Image: Phys.org
You've likely heard this assumption: When AI-enabled and autonomous machines arrive on the farm, jobs will disappear. But researchers at the University of California, Davis, who studied 16 fruit tree operations in California and Washington for three years, found that automation still takes human knowledge. What changes is how the work gets done. The study, drawing on 165 in-depth interviews with workers and growers, was published in the journal New Technology, Work and Employment.

Originally published at Phys.org

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