C-19 has highlighted the benefits of rising technologies such as drone applications as opposed to farm labor; as a result, those technologies could see more investments toward Precision Agricultural systems. Drones are also being tested for application of pesticides, providing exact measurements applied to direct target crops, which will be especially beneficial for vegetation management in hard-to-reach locations.​

Improved tablets, phones, and other connected equipment help farmers translate data into actionable insight that will guide their decisions from growing season to harvest. ​

Sensors play a critical role in agriculture by enabling real-time analysis and trace ability of farm machines and crop states. Crop sensors advise when and where to apply fertilizers, the correct measures needed, and the health of the crops in the field.​

Automation helps agriculture through the use of micro robots and large-scale robotics in evaluation and maintenance of the crops. Ag technology that falls under automation includes robotic farm swarms—the use of many ag robots, which have multiple microscopic sensors that predict, extract, monitor, and cultivate crops. Agbots also fall under this category—robots that automate some of the agricultural processes, such as soil maintenance, irrigation, harvesting, ploughing, fruit picking, weeding, and planting.​

Precision ag continues to be refined to the utmost for maximizing crop yields. The newest term in this developing field is “Hyper-Precision.”​

AgTech investment is on the rise in 2020—the AgTech gold rush has continued since Monsanto first purchased Climate Corp. for $1 billion. Areas to watch are the rise of unmanned aerial vehicles, variable-rate seeding services, field mapping, yield monitor analysis, and satellite imagery.​

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