The Pretender - 3/29/2025 05:16

There will certainly be more automation and load taken off the operator, but there will still be a need for someone to be sat on the seat.

The difference with a half decent operator and automation is that automation is reactive via sensor, it can't anticipate. A good operator isn't just steering the machine he (normally) is running the field. How does AI change a knife section? How does AI deal with the wet spot that wasn't there when you planted the field? Last year we had a sewer leaking out of an inspection chamber into one of our fields unbeknown to us, how does AI deal with that? We often get tree limbs fall down, it's those sorts of things that need to be over come, nevermind the unforseen breakdowns that start as a small leak or squeak that a good operator would notice before they stop play. I can however see where you have multiple machines and one operator with the other machines acting as drones.

If someone still needs to supervise the operation, he might as well be sat in the cab rather than in the corner of the field in an $80,000 pickup asleep