Autonomous tractor

[PSQ]

Skilled farm workers wont exist unless they are paid big money.

I hear what your saying, and agree that everyone worth employing should be paid a fair wage commensurate with their ability and comparable with 'other industries'.

But 'other industries' are mechanising faster than agriculture, because they have easier processes to automate, and for our lifetimes at least there will be a lot of people replaced by CNC / robots / AI rejoining the labour pool, and who will be able to bring transferable skills and life experience to 'farm work'. Don't forget the hundreds of thousands of people who worked on farms in their youth, and left for better money and 'bright lights'. Their early experience hasn't been erased by half a lifetime elsewhere; think of the amount of lorry drivers who started out working on farms who are going to be the last generation to sit in a truck cab. From around 10 years time, these men (and women) will be knocking on your door, as they know every good approachable farmer in their county, and your number is already in their phones

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I think one big factor is that humans love to feel indispensible - and farmers are humans first and foremost

Thus the idea of autonomous tractors will fill most farmers with horror, it's far better to have some young entrant to slowly grind the initiative out of, and then there's something to moan about at the pub/shoot .
Having to stop for ten minutes to swap in a new hall-effect sensor just isn't as cool as having to draw your own grain late into the night,, because young Blake has to go to an ultrasound with Sally on Thursday afternoon, there's just not as much mileage in that

In the meantime, there'll be a problem for every imaginable solution

 

[PSQ]

I hacked my home Alexa's yesterday and renamed them "Jarvis"

Interesting, how did you do it?
I've just tried to change youngest daughters 'wake word' and it only allows a choice of Alexa, Computer, Amazon or Echo.

[I’m also trying to change her morning alarm from a beeping tone, to 'the Ace of Spades' by Motorhead... ]

 

[Clive]

Interesting, how did you do it?
I've just tried to change youngest daughters 'wake word' and it only allows a choice of Alexa, Computer, Amazon or Echo.

[I’m also trying to change her morning alarm from a beeping tone, to 'the Ace of Spades' by Motorhead... ]

you can change to a couple of other wake word in settings like "amazon" and "computer" etc - to custom set one though is a lot more complex involving re-flash of hardware etc

 

[Scribus]

The biggest issue will be reliability of the electronics. Just look at what happens now if a sensor throws up a problem the first thing is to change the sensor as 9 times out of 10 it's a knackered sensor. If we then have problems with machines shutting down because there isn't anything wrong but the sensor is fkd.

My sensors have lasted a lifetime so far.

 

[Scribus]

there is already a massive shortage of "skilled" farm workers

So why aren't they skilled, who's not been training them?

 

[Scribus]

Its not me who you need to convince!

Indeed not, it's those ungrateful so and so's who insist on seeking farm work on this very website. Thirteen out of twenty adverts on the first page of the jobs thread are people actually looking for agricultural employment. Massive shortage? Maybe not.

 

[Scribus]

I hear what your saying, and agree that everyone worth employing should be paid a fair wage commensurate with their ability and comparable with 'other industries'.

But 'other industries' are mechanising faster than agriculture, because they have easier processes to automate, and for our lifetimes at least there will be a lot of people replaced by CNC / robots / AI rejoining the labour pool, and who will be able to bring transferable skills and life experience to 'farm work'. Don't forget the hundreds of thousands of people who worked on farms in their youth, and left for better money and 'bright lights'. Their early experience hasn't been erased by half a lifetime elsewhere; think of the amount of lorry drivers who started out working on farms who are going to be the last generation to sit in a truck cab. From around 10 years time, these men (and women) will be knocking on your door, as they know every good approachable farmer in their county, and your number is already in their phones

Truckers jobs are safe enough for decades yet.

 

[ollie989898]

Indeed not, it's those ungrateful so and so's who insist on seeking farm work on this very website. Thirteen out of twenty adverts on the first page of the jobs thread are people actually looking for agricultural employment. Massive shortage? Maybe not.

13 adverts for a forum representing an emtire industry.


I would not call that confidence inspiring.

 

[ollie989898]

Truckers jobs are safe enough for decades yet.

I dont think anyone is arguing that. I think the argument is that the haulage industry would love autonomous trucks tomorrow as they cant find anyone to do it, not because they want to sack everyone.

 

[Scribus]

13 adverts for a forum representing an emtire industry.


I would not call that confidence inspiring.

Thirteen out of twenty or 65%, that is. Let's not forget we are talking about a ratio here.

 

[Hooby Farmer]

It will come. Autonomy in agriculture is in it's infancy. We're just early in the process, give it 10 years.

 

[Scribus]

I dont think anyone is arguing that. I think the argument is that the haulage industry would love autonomous trucks tomorrow as they cant find anyone to do it, not because they want to sack everyone.

Ah now, been hearing that for years.

Anyway, there are huge problems with AV's which big tech had never envisaged in their arrogance.

 

[MF 168]

The relentless drive to produce more from less and less labour to do it and pay for is all well and good up to a point but if the day arrives whereby farming is automated then farmers themselves will cease to exist. Think about it, the cows are milked by a computer, the fields are tilled and sowed by computers and so on. Granted those computers are in machinery of some sort but ye get my point. Apart from a service tech the farmer isn't needed, just some fella 6k miles away to program in the next field and crop and all ran by a billion dollar corporation. Make no mistake about that folks.
Now maybe I'm very old fashioned but I love nothing more then sitting up on my tractor and doing the operating myself. It's all buttons and HMS anyway and a far cry from the 100 series MF's I cut my teeth on. Thread carefully in the wish for automation, it might well be you gets replaced one day.

 

[ollie989898]

Thirteen out of twenty or 65%, that is. Let's not forget we are talking about a ratio here.

Forget I mentioned it. To be frank I've reached the stage where in all honesty I'm well past caring which is a bit sad really.

 

[ollie989898]

The relentless drive to produce more from less and less labour to do it and pay for is all well and good up to a point but if the day arrives whereby farming is automated then farmers themselves will cease to exist. Think about it, the cows are milked by a computer, the fields are tilled and sowed by computers and so on. Granted those computers are in machinery of some sort but ye get my point. Apart from a service tech the farmer isn't needed, just some fella 6k miles away to program in the next field and crop and all ran by a billion dollar corporation. Make no mistake about that folks.
Now maybe I'm very old fashioned but I love nothing more then sitting up on my tractor and doing the operating myself. It's all buttons and HMS anyway and a far cry from the 100 series MF's I cut my teeth on. Thread carefully in the wish for automation, it might well be you gets replaced one day.

People are getting out all the time. Nothing new there. People have left the land and headed into urban population centres looking for work for probably centuries.

 

[kiwi pom]

there is already a massive shortage of "skilled" farm workers

Define skilled?
The problem with Ag is every situation is different and every farmer has a different idea on how to do things. As a employee you have to re learn everything on every job.
I'm sure you're excellent on your farm but if I picked you up and dropped you in a corn field in Arizona and told you to run a forager crew, you'd struggle for a while. If you turned up for work at @Spud place on Monday morning would you fit in?
Each machine or grain drying/storage system and work schedule is different, you have to learn on the job. I think it takes a year on most farms to actually figure every thing out.
Too many farms expect people to just turn up and know everything without any training up or guidance.
'Fit' is important too in Ag, for employees as well as farmers, I know lots of people that have given up on farm work because they couldn't find the right job or boss.

 

[MF 168]

People are getting out all the time. Nothing new there. People have left the land and headed into urban population centres looking for work for probably centuries.

They have and it has allowed those of us daft enough to remain to expand and improve our businesses. However at what point in automation of agriculture does one simply cease to be a farmer. If your inside on a keyboard all day your not a farmer. Doesn't matter if your controlling machinery with that keyboard, your a software engineer not a farmer.
I will say I'm not anti technology, far from it and I do have the latest and greatest outside in the yard.

 

[ollie989898]

They have and it has allowed those of us daft enough to remain to expand and improve our businesses. However at what point in automation of agriculture does one simply cease to be a farmer. If your inside on a keyboard all day your not a farmer. Doesn't matter if your controlling machinery with that keyboard, your a software engineer not a farmer.
I will say I'm not anti technology, far from it and I do have the latest and greatest outside in the yard.

Is a man with 600 cows or 3000 pigs a farmer?

 

[Clive]

Define skilled?
The problem with Ag is every situation is different and every farmer has a different idea on how to do things. As a employee you have to re learn everything on every job.
I'm sure you're excellent on your farm but if I picked you up and dropped you in a corn field in Arizona and told you to run a forager crew, you'd struggle for a while. If you turned up for work at @Spud place on Monday morning would you fit in?
Each machine or grain drying/storage system and work schedule is different, you have to learn on the job. I think it takes a year on most farms to actually figure every thing out.
Too many farms expect people to just turn up and know everything without any training up or guidance.
'Fit' is important too in Ag, for employees as well as farmers, I know lots of people that have given up on farm work because they couldn't find the right job or boss.

The dictionary defines it far better than I can