I hope you had a good Easter. The weather has been mixed with many parts of the country still saturated from all the heavy rain. I have never seen the fields in my area as wet. Machines, in some parts, are unable to gain access for Spring cultivation. The situation will need to improve soon.
Nature can be very unpredictable at times. We hear about global warming and its impact on society. Is this man made or a natural evolution of nature? Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution describes how species, down through time, are able to adapt to suit their environment. Can Darwin’s Theory of Evolution be applied to the dealer?
If you were to travel back in time, for example to the 1800’s, and stand beside a farmer and tell him that horses will no longer be used to work the land, be the main mode of transport, and that agricultural blacksmiths and saddlers will be a thing of the past, the farmer would probably laugh at you. Things have evolved since then and that farmer is probably spinning in his grave.
A similar experience happened to me when I was a greenkeeper. A machinery sales rep called to me one day and commented “It won’t be long before machines will be able to maintain a golf course, wall to wall, without a human being on board to operate it. I looked at him with a wry smile and said “yeah, right.”
Many years later that comment by the sales rep has almost come true. Many of the press releases I receive each week are from companies that are promoting their latest robotic mower, sprayer or precision farm technology. Dealers around the country are stocking more robotic mowers than ever before. Is this a sign of times ahead? Is the human being replaced by the machine, just like they replaced the horse?
This leads me to another question. Will groundstaff, just like blacksmiths at the turn of the last century, be a thing of the past? Time will tell but some human input will be needed to manage these new machines. It is the law that commercial robotic machines must be supervised by a person in the event of a malfunction. However, having said that, I believe that the number of staff that will be employed to maintain golf courses and amenity areas will be a lot less than what it is today.
Dealers are already adapting to the move towards robotics and are telling their customers about their benefits.
As well as robotic mowers there is also the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture. This is used in precision farming such as surveying the land for disease and nutrient deficiencies. In the wider public AI has generated a lot of anxiety, especially when it comes to social media. For example, It is becoming more difficult to distinguish between a genuine image and one that is created using AI.
This concern has spread into our industry where some potential AI customers are worried about the use of their data and data protection policy. A lot of equipment using precision agriculture depends on obtaining lots of data to carry out their various tasks. We will need to reassure our customers and get their trust so that they are more confident purchasing and using AI equipment in their work life.
The day that no human will be needed to farm or look after sport pitches may still be a long way off but, as dealers, we need to keep up with the changing times or we may find ourselves in the same stable as the blacksmith.
