Karen Ross, secretary to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, discusses the 2025 agricultural industry outlook.
Tulair, California – The US agricultural industry is being used to overcome obstacles, but 2025 is becoming a particularly challenging year. Labor shortages, water restrictions and pending threats of tariffs lie at the forefront of all farmers’ minds.
“There’s always a challenge with agriculture, but a lot of people are happening at the same time,” said Karen Ross, director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. “I think this only happens once in a generation with a lot of driving forces.”
In 2023, the agriculture industry won cash receipts of more than $50 trillion. The crop is $267.4 billion and animal products are $249.6 billion. However, 86% of farms are “small farms.” That is, it’s a total of less than $350,000 a year. These are the farms that we feel most pressured.
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“When it comes to profits, production agriculture tends to be marginal business. The typical average return on investment for low to one side numbers on a farm is very typical,” says Roland, head of Raboresearch. Fumasi says Food and Agribusiness. “So, all sorts of downward pressure on the market is putting a lot of pressure on the finances of a small number of farms, anyway, for most years.”
In 2023, the agriculture industry won cash receipts of more than $50 trillion. The crop is $267.4 billion and animal products are $249.6 billion. (Hi Oonchan / Denver Post / Getty Images)
Now, farmers are supporting technology. In the world, the world’s largest agricultural trade show, manufacturers wanted to show off their latest products.
Last week, more than 1,200 agricultural machinery manufacturers descended into California’s Central Valley last week, hoping to find a buyer among more than 100,000 people. Tulair, California has been home to Agexpo since 1968, and this year the buzzwords have been making waves – AI.
AI, or artificial intelligence, is used in all kinds of ways. From driving self-driving cars to performing difficult tasks, to analyzing changes in the environment, AI is working on everything from labor shortages to increasing crop yields, with farmers on board.
“We’re part of the first wave of AI and we can see what’s going on in the field,” said Paul Mikesell, founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics. “The farmers are incredibly curious. They are so innovative and original that they quickly got what we were doing.”
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Mikesell’s company has generated a lot of buzz around its products. Laser Weeders use AI to identify weeds and use lasers to kill them with STEM. It not only cuts out the physical sacrifices associated with weeding, but also eliminates the need for herbicides.
“We can kill weeds that humans can’t even see, and we go in and kill them before we steal nutrients to compete with the crop,” added Mikesell.
Farmers are turning to technologies, including artificial intelligence, to tackle the challenges they expect to face in 2025. (Sandy Huffaker/AFP Via/Getty Images)
Another company uses AI to support bees, one of the busiest and threatened employees in the ecosystem. Project Apis m. According to the colony rate, it looks at unprecedented losses at over 50%. Some beekeepers report 100% colony losses. This is a horrifying prospect for almond farmers, relying on bees to pollinate the trees.
The beehive uses AI sensors within the beehive to measure everything from acoustic signatures from the queen to the number of bee visits per minute, giving farmers a real-time understanding of bee compensation and pollination. This will provide the beekeeper with the information they need to help the bees thrive.
“The beekeepers who work with us, their colonies have a 33% lower collapse rate than the industry average,” said Brent Wellington, director of product marketing at Beehero.
John Deere, who commands more than 40% of the US agricultural machinery industry’s market share, is also on AI. The company has developed a 5ML autonomous tractor used to spray blasts, essentially spraying chemicals to protect the trees. Usually, it is a task that must be done at night, driving in a dangerous material suit, under 3 mph, 6-8 times a year. Chore farmers rather go through the machines.
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“The response was really, really positive. The average age of farmers in the US is around 58 years old, and many of them are 12 hours during peak season to manage their businesses due to a lack of qualified labor force. He works to the company, said Jason Brantley, John Deere’s vice president of small-scale agriculture and turf production systems.
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The AG industry is changing, but farmers and manufacturers alike are embracing what they need to continue growing their crops and producing animals, Ross said.
“It’s very important to keep looking for ways to automate to make the work we have,” Ross said. “How do you think of the use of technology, self-driving cars and robotics as a way to create new and better jobs for existing farm workers, as a way to attract young people. Absolutely for our survival It’s essential.”
