Many modern farms already use GPS-guided tractors and digital technology such as farm-management software systems. Now, advances in artificial intelligence mean that the next step—the autonomous farm, with only minimal human tending—is finally coming into focus.

Imagine a farm where fleets of autonomous tractors, drones and harvesters are guided by AI that tweaks operations minute by minute based on soil and weather data. … Every seed, drop of water and ounce of fertilizer would be optimized to boost yields and protect the land—driven by a connected system that gets smarter with each season.

“We’re just getting to a turning point in the commercial viability of a lot of these technologies,” says David Fiocco, a senior partner at McKinsey & Co. who leads research on agricultural innovation.

A McKinsey survey in 2022 found that around two-thirds of American farms use digital systems to manage their farm operations, but only 15% of large farms and just 4% of smaller ones have yet invested significantly in robotics or automation.

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