WEBVTT - What Will Farming 4.0 Look Like? 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.760 Heart Radio. Hey, I'm welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.520 and there's Charles W Chuck Bryant. Jerry's with us as well, 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.400 and we all have a nice They're a hay sticking 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:27.360 out of our teeth. Got a hat on. It's a derby. 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.920 Doesn't quite fit right, but is it still a hat? 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:35.240 And I'm wearing overalls with nothing underneath and no shoes 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:42.239 and socks. Have I told you my uh Olan Mills story? No? 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.479 I can't not. When I lost my two front teeth, 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:52.440 my mom promptly took me to Olan Mills. And there 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.640 is a picture in existence. I'll try and find it 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:59.360 and put it on my Instagram um of me in 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.840 front of a like a lazy river scene or a 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:07.680 lake or something, with overall shorts and you know, cut 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.680 off overalls, I guess, nothing else on, no shirt, no shoes, 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.319 and like, uh, I love to see it. I feel 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.960 like I had like a cane pole and maybe a straw. Hateez? 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.399 Did they did they have the the the engraving and 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:26.800 stone mountain and as the background? No, thank goodness, I 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.399 just it was straight up cosplay it's very embarrassing, but 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.280 I'll see if I can find that and throw it 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.959 up on Chuck the Podcaster Instagram. You should, Chuck. I 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:43.280 think that would really garner some likes, you know, putting 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:45.000 a few old pictures up there every now and then. 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.520 It's fun. That's very cute. Um. So, I guess you're saying, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:52.640 you're we're talking about wearing nothing but overalls because we're 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.200 talking about farming, right, Yeah, I mean that that picture 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.840 Basically I learned all I needed to know about farming 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:02.440 that day, which is I'm not cut out for it. 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.600 I'm not cut out for it. I am cut out 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:09.880 to be photographed for money. Whoa, Um, that was me 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.919 doing my impression of you. Yeah. I didn't get paid. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:15.840 Uh yeah, I guess that's the opposite. Happened Your mom 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.360 paid somebody take pictures of you regardless, Um, none of 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.880 that really happens in farming. Maybe people running around with 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.560 overalls on probably has something underneath the overalls. But for 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.200 the most part, this is a gross misconception of of 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.680 what farming is. Especially now that I've done some research 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.360 on the current state of farming, We're pretty far from 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.480 the whole idea of people running around with hey in 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:46.200 their and their mouths and wearing overalls and nothing. But sure, 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.040 I mean, well, it depends on who you are. Like, 0:02:48.760 --> 0:02:50.639 have you ever seen and I've talked about it before 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:55.320 the documentary The Biggest Little Farm. Yeah, I think you 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.320 have talked about that. I don't remember what episode it 0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:59.600 was in there, And we'll get to that. That's coming 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.160 up on the the last part of this episode about 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.120 agro ecology, but that those are people that are adherents 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.320 of bringing it back to what farming used to be, 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:14.519 which was ecologically sound, harmonious with nature, that kind of thing, right, 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.519 which makes a tremendous amount of sense. But we'll see 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.440 if that's even possible in the future, because here's the thing. 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:28.919 There's a huge um boom in demand for agriculture that 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:31.079 we are on the presiposs of it. Actually, I guess 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.080 you could make a pretty good case that we're in 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:35.760 the midst of it right now. Um, by the year 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.720 there's a predicted somewhere around nine to ten billion. It's 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:43.720 a pretty big gap. But let's say nine to ten 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:47.880 billion people are expected to be running around on planet Earth, right, 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.080 and all those people are going to need to be fed. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:55.800 But the thing is is we're not exactly sure how 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:00.880 we're going to reach that increased demand. And because there 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.200 is a study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.800 the u M that said that we're basically going to 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:11.440 have to increase food production UM compared to two thousand 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.440 seven levels by seventy to feed all those people. And 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:17.560 that's that's if we hit the low and the nine 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:23.880 billion UM in population by Yeah, and you mentioned agriculture, Um, 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.800 we're also talking meat in protein because not only is 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:32.320 the population increasing, but income is on the rise worldwide, 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:37.200 especially in developing countries. And as you are developing country 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:40.440 that gets a little more money in your pocket as individuals, 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.240 you want to eat more meat in protein. So um, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.760 I think they said global meat consumption is going to 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.920 arise by about sevents. Well, yeah, and when you're talking 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:57.039 about meat um consumption as far as agriculture goes, like, 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:01.000 you're talking about agriculture times too, because not only do 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:03.800 you have to use all those inputs to grow the 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.800 cattle themselves, the livestock themselves, so um you can eat them, 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.039 you have to feed them to get them ready to 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.159 be eaten, right, So you have to grow the food 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:15.960 to feed to the cattle that you're going to grow 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.640 that you're going to eventually eat. So there's a lot 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:22.280 of agriculture that's going to have to be going on. Um. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:26.120 But here's the thing. Agriculture has handled this before. There 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.200 was a time you and I have talked about countless times, um, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.600 the Green Revolution back in the early mid twentieth century. 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.240 There are a lot of people saying, UM, we're not 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.440 exactly sure that agriculture is going to be able to 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.640 keep pace with the growing population. And we think probably 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.560 about a billion people are going to starve. And that 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.040 may have happened, we will never know, but we know 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.840 that it didn't happen thanks to the green revolution that 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:58.840 was hastened by scientists like Norman Borlog. Yeah, we've been 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.640 talking about that guy for a year. And the irony 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.920 of the green revolution is is today's terminology. You might 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.560 think that has something to do with, um, environmentally sound practices. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.440 It was kind of the opposite of that in a 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.159 lot of ways. Uh, they've meant green just like a 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:17.400 lot of plants. Uh, it was really harmful to the environment. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.800 It did feed a lot of people, and there's a 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.680 lot of mixed um mixed reviews on Yelp about the 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.360 green revolution. I guess, uh, that's an easier way to 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.320 say controversy because what happened is a lot of the 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.479 greenhouse gas emissions that we see uh in the world 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:40.440 today come from food production. We've talked about methane coming 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:46.240 from cowpoots before, We've talked about it's real big problem. 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:50.800 We've talked about deforestation. Um obviously transportation getting this food 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:54.040 and transporting it, you know, because the idea we kind 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.920 of went away from the idea of local farms feeding 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.680 regions into shipping food across the globe if we need to, 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:05.240 and that's just a lot of pollution. I think raising 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:11.240 livestock and fish accounts for about of agricultures greenhouse emissions, 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:17.440 with livestock being about Yeah, so this whole So we've 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.160 we've reached this an inflection point that really resembles the 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:23.920 last inflection point where Okay, we're about to have a 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.320 big increase in population. We need to make sure that 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.600 agriculture can keep up with food production to feed everybody, 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.080 or else we're gonna have big problems. But this time 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.760 there's an added twist and that we know the last 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:38.880 thing we did kind of wreck to the environment. So 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:40.880 now we have to figure out, Okay, how are we 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.480 going to meet this challenge this time without further wrecking 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.040 the environment and then maybe even figuring out a way 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.960 to um help the environment through food production. That's kind 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:53.800 of where we're at right now. And agriculture has gone 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:57.760 through different iterations, and right now supposedly we're in agriculture 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.800 three doto And what every but he's trying to figure 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.679 out is what comes next? What's agriculture for dotto? Yeah? 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:10.320 One one point oh? You say dot? Yeah, okay, one 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.280 point oh was from Neolithic to the nineteen twenties. So 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.160 that was boy, that had a good long run, didn't it. Yeah, 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.520 that's a good long stretch, a very good long stretch. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.320 But that included a lot of labor from human hands 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.880 and animal hoofs uh two point oh? Was that green 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.000 revolution we were talking about? Three point I was about 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:33.800 ten or eleven years ago when big data kind of 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:39.080 came in to help maximize yields. And it's uh, they're 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.480 saying like four point needs to start happening now, and 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.080 sort of is We're just not exactly sure what the 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.319 final iteration is gonna look like yeah, and a lot 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.640 of the stuff that's going on in three Datto is 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.400 going to make an appearance in four Duto. But it's 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:55.240 gonna be that's a way to say it. Sometimes points 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.880 so yeah, of course, although it reminds me. Have you 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.719 watched Cobra kai Uh? We watched the first like four 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:03.480 or five episodes and then we're like, I get it. 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:08.800 Same here. Um, But that one where Johnny's handing out 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.800 flyers for his new website, He's like, check out this 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:18.360 cool website. H T T P colon slash slash w 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:24.920 w W period Cobra guy period c O M. They 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.200 just spelled it out while he was handing out a flocker. 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:30.600 But he says period. He didn't say dot. That's really funny. 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:35.480 Well two period of three periodo he uh it was. 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:37.320 That was great. Yeah, it was a great premise that 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:40.280 they really pulled off for a little while there. So 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:43.560 now whenever you say to Dot, oh, I'll say do 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:48.440 you have a problem, Mr Clark, Yeah, and I'll say 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:53.760 no mercy, no mercy, Yeah, okay, Um, that's the new 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.160 response to that question. But you don't say it like that. 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:01.120 You don't go no, mercy. Oh you don't say it, director, 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:06.240 No mercy. Uh, okay, let me try keep them ready. 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:14.199 No mercy. Very intimidating. Thank you. Where were we? We 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:18.120 were talking about what four dotto is going to look like? Yeah, 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:22.520 because here's the deal. Uh, farmers themselves, the human beings 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.439 are getting older. Um, farmers over sixty five years old 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.600 out number uh those under forty five years old by 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.800 two to one, actually a little more than two dot 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.640 one to one dot one. Know those are Colin's my friend. 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:44.000 Know there's a dot to dot one. Oh man, I 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.400 feel like this is gonna happen. Um. So one of 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.680 the first kind of things that people think may happen, 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:54.800 and that we're already seeing some is consolidation of farms. 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.520 Instead of a lot of medium, too small sized farms, 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:03.320 how about few are really big farms. And you know 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:06.400 that's already kind of been happening. Yeah. And like in 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.920 a normal industry, let's say the kazoo manufacturing industry, if 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.520 like the kazoo makers were way old and there weren't 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.320 very many young kazoo makers, that wouldn't fare very well 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:19.120 for the kazoo industry, but no one would really care. 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.559 We wouldn't miss kazoos all that much, would be Okay, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:28.360 farming does not really fall within that same category as kazoos, 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.360 Like we need food. So rather than farming just going away, 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.200 they're just going to figure out how to consolidate it 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:40.000 with fewer, younger farmers with bigger farms under their belt, right, 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.360 which you know, if you think there's fewer farmers, so 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:46.199 you consolidate the farms. That makes sense, But you're like, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.400 you still need people because these farmers are getting older 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.520 and ostensibly, you know, farm hands are getting older as well. 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:59.240 But here's where uh four dot four period oh comes 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:04.720 in is robots. As John Hodgman would say, yeah, oh man, 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:07.480 I didn't hear it in any other way every time 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.719 I read it. Yeah, because there's a lot of inefficiencies 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:15.360 in traditional farming with farm hands. I mean, just one 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:19.680 example is when you fertilize an area. You know, you 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.160 can fertilize like a platt, but you fertilize that whole plat. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.439 If there's a part of that plat that doesn't need fertilizing, 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.040 it's probably gonna get fertilized anyway, just because you know, 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.560 they just run the fertilizer over that area, right exactly. 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:38.400 It's just that's just what is the most efficient. And 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.400 as we'll see, like that's a that's a real problem. 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.400 That's sad that that's the current way to do it, 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:46.560 but that's conventional farming practices. You just fertilize the whole 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.200 field and go on and do something else, because there's 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.400 a million other things that need to be done as well. 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.640 But one of the things, um that's going to be 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.040 uh kind of saved in that way by by robots 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:03.040 is um They're going to take these different steps that 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:07.599 are involved in UM farm work and kind of um 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:11.959 break them down into uh, um, what's the word I'm 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:16.240 looking for, chuck where where you know, Oh, specialties. So 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.520 a robot specializes in a certain task or whatever. And 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:21.800 because you'll have a bunch of different robots they doing 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.400 the same task, they'll be able to kind of give 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.080 more personal tailored care to the to the plants. Say 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.079 like some plants need fertilizer, those plants will get fertilizer. 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.920 Plant doesn't need fertilizer, it's not going to get fertilizer. 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:36.800 And that's going to save a lot of UM inputs. 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:38.720 Is kind of what you talk about when you're in 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:43.559 talking agriculture UM, which kind of is generally a good thing, 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.200 not just financially, but when it comes to the environment 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.400 as we'll see. Yeah, and you know, you think about 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:53.360 a tractor that requires a human to drive that tractor. Uh, 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.880 they already have tractors that can drive themselves with GPS 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.240 accuracy involved. And you know that's been going on for 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:04.520 a little while now. And the idea I think is UM. 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:06.400 And you know, some of these tractors are something called 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.840 the lettuce bot, which is kind of cool, where basically 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.400 have a tractor at least that's sort of the current iteration, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:15.880 and on the back of that tractor is a big 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:20.040 row of I mean, we call them robots. It's not 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:23.520 like you know, George Jetson type of stuff. A robotis 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.760 just means it's a mechanical, you know, automated system. Right, 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:32.160 it's not they're not looking for a husband like. So 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.640 the lettuce bot is pulled along behind the tractor and 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:36.960 it's got you know, just a big row of little 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:41.120 robots that can do everything from UM kind of custom 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:45.440 fertilization to picking out a weed using the same technology 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:49.800 that they use in facial recognition like there's a ragweed 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.400 or something, let's get rid of just that weed instead 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.480 of like let's just spray the whole field with round 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.360 up or whatever. Uh. And it's you know, it's going 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:01.520 to increase efficiencies. And I think that's the first iteration. 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:04.680 And what they're looking at in the future is instead 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.200 of even a big tractor that still costs a lot 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.240 of money, Yeah, like hundreds of thousands of dollars for 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.560 a new track. I think, like it doesn't really dawn 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:18.440 on city slickers how incredibly expensive farm equipment is. Yeah, 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.000 those big, big tractors, not like you're sort of fun tractor. No, 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.920 not a fun tractor, sure, that's like fifty grand, who cares, 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.920 but like a really big tractor. Yeah, it's a lot 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.640 of money. Um. So I think the idea is, or 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:34.320 at least what I saw, there's conceptual drawings of smaller 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.120 uh robot tractors that are I don't know, it looked 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.640 like the size of like a like a six foot 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.800 folding table or something just kind of going over like 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.000 a row of lettuce, Like it's that it's in charge 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.800 of that one row. Probably, Yeah, But what I wonder 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.160 is how expensive are those and do you have to 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.840 get fifty of those to equal one tractor? And how 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.240 does it suss out financially? I mean, I'm sure that 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:01.200 like there's a maximum number that you would possibly need, 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.480 or else you're like, I have more than I can use. 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.440 And then you have you have a farm that like 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:08.880 doesn't make quite as much money as another farm, so 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.240 they make do with half the number of robots, and 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.920 that maybe they have to supplement that with humans or whatever, 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.600 um or it takes longer for that to be done, 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.440 or they can grow less lettuce. But I'm sure that 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:24.160 like there's from what I read, there's a price point 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:28.760 where like having robots is going to be financially way 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.840 better than having to sink hunt several hundred grand into 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:34.880 a new tract or even like a hundred and fifty 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.640 grand for a use tractor. And then the other thing, 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.280 and this is really important to number one, you don't 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.400 need a human to drive these things, which frees the 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:44.200 human up to do other things, or you don't have 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.480 to pay the human anymore, So that's gonna save you 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.480 some money. And then secondly, um, if one of those 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:55.960 robots breaks down, you can still work all the other rows. 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.120 If the tractor breaks down, You're you're done. You have 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.360 to wait until the try just fixed, and then all 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.840 of that work has to wait. This is just one 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:07.280 single say row that isn't getting attended to right then 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:09.720 while that one robot's broken down. So that's a huge 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.600 advantage right there. Yeah, and you can just tell robot 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.560 number two to scoot over and cover the ground that 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.840 robot number one is missing exactly, and he's like, I 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.520 gotta pull a double Shut up. You're a machine. You 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.360 can't talk. The other thing robots can potentially do is harvest. 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.280 Harvesting is very labor intensive, and it's also kind of inefficient, 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:35.240 especially when it comes to something like um, maybe like strawberries, 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:39.760 which you harvest one time during the year, and you 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.280 know there there's still a little bit of leeway in there. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.040 Like it's it's not an exact science in that some 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.040 of those plants will have ripe fruit before you go 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.840 to harvest and it'll rot and drop off. Some of 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.359 them may need to wait a little bit and ripen afterward, 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.520 so you're wasting a lot of fruit there on the ground. 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.840 And robot harvesters would just constantly kind of patrol these 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.840 rosa plants and harvests the berries when they're ready to 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:08.360 be harvested, right, which would make it a lot more 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.119 money for the farmers who are growing that stuff. It's 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.040 pretty pretty awesome. And then as we kind of evolve 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.439 further and further along in our technology UM and we 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.440 finally reach the capability of nanotechnology, one of the things 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:25.399 that they are hoping that nanobots, which are currently just 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.800 hypothetical robots on the scale of UM like a strand 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:33.080 of DNA or an atom or something, they'll be able 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:37.199 to manipulate matter about UM like on that scale. So 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:41.280 what they're hoping for is UM with agriculture, nanobots will 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:45.040 eventually be able to deliver nutrients directly to the roots 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.240 of a plant, like right when it needs it, not 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.120 not from some humans saying like, hey, nanoboto, go take 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:53.600 this nutrient, this little bit of nitrogen over to that 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.080 plant right there. It will be all of this stuff 0:18:56.080 --> 0:19:00.440 will be guided and directed by computers that are paying 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.639 attention to the plants through sensors and then directing the 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:06.640 nanobots to go take this nutrient to this particular plant 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.679 because it needs it right now. And this kind of 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.439 this kind of attention. This tailored to individualize attention is 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.840 what's called precision farming, and that seems to be something 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.400 that's looming on the horizon that will be a big 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:24.000 part of for for period. Oh yeah, I think the 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.760 NANO is like serious future farming when we get to 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.320 that point, But a lot of this stuff is on 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:34.120 the imminent horizon. Um Nutrient waste is a really big 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:37.600 deal and a big problem. I think about six of 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.040 fertilizer that you apply to a field is lost to 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.439 run off. So there's a big cost factor there that 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.280 you're losing and it just rereaks havoc on water sheds 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.040 that are nearby, which we talked about a little bit 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:55.840 in the watershed episode. And fertilizer production and then transporting 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.200 that where you need it is a big, big part 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:02.080 of CEO two emissions. I think five to eleven kilograms 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:06.280 of CEO two are admitted through the lifestyle life cycle 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:11.560 of one keg I'm sorry, one kilogram gig tepe kega. 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:16.480 That fertilizer man keg stand uh one kilogram of fertilizer. 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.000 And once you fertilize the plant, Uh, it gets in 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.200 that soil and these microbes you know, have to convert 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.639 that fertilizer into something that's useful. And when it does that, 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.399 it emits uh n O two or I'm sorry in 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.359 two O nitrous oxide and that's number three behind CEO 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.719 two and methane is a big problem gas. Right, So 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.280 there's a lot to be saved by by cutting down 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:43.639 on that six of waste fertilizer. A lot of stuff 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.840 would be helped by that. And the more you can 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:50.480 precisely tailor agriculture, UM, the less waste you're going to have. 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:53.640 And I would say that UM for anybody who's interested 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:58.320 in hearing how colossally wrong deploying nanobots into crop land 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.760 could go, I would direct you to UM my tempart 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:04.800 series The End of the World with Josh Clark, specifically 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.600 the AI episode. It's pretty good, kind of eye opening. 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:10.760 I think that's my favorite one. Actually. Oh, thanks Chuck. 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.040 All right, so let's take a break and we'll come 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:42.600 back and talk about big data right after this. Okay, 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:47.359 we're back, and we're talking about Chuck big data and 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:54.800 three period oh, which was already or is already using 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.600 a lot of data. UM. We talked about the GPS 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.400 guided tractors that have been around for a while. Um. 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:04.600 They do use things like drones and satellites to get 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.320 like literal big pictures of farms that can be really 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:12.359 useful UM in determining like areas that are patchy or dry, 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:15.680 or hey, this looks ready for harvest. But they're gonna 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:20.000 bring light into the mix, which is something I know 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.480 we've talked about before. L I D A R. When 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:25.640 do we talk about that? I don't know. It might 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:30.400 have been. It's used most famously for m mapping dense 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:35.399 jungle ruins. UM. Like. I was reading about it in 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:37.960 this book called The Lost City of the Monkey God 0:22:38.040 --> 0:22:41.360 by Douglas Preston, which I actually heard about in researching 0:22:41.359 --> 0:22:45.080 our episode on Finn Treasure, because Douglas Preston was the 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:50.640 friend of Forest Finn, who UM vouched for having seen 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:54.920 the treasure in person before his closet, And I was like, Oh, 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:56.720 that book sounds pretty interesting. I went and read it, 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:59.320 and it's really interesting. But he talks a lot about 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:03.640 light are being used to map these these these ruins 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:06.200 that have been overgrown by jungle that you normally would 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:08.920 never be able to see overhead, but the light are 0:23:09.320 --> 0:23:13.280 UM is able to basically get beams of lasers through 0:23:13.440 --> 0:23:15.919 the brakes and like leaves and all that in the 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:19.280 canopy to hit the ground below and then bounce back up. 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:21.760 And so you get a picture of the understory too, 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:24.640 which would come and handy big time for for crops, 0:23:24.720 --> 0:23:29.880 especially tall crops that are growing closely together, like say corn. Right, 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:33.440 So you bundle all that together in a handy little 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:38.119 app for Mr. Future Farmer and Mrs Future Farmer or 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:41.680 Miss Future Farmer or a Miss Future Farmer or dr 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:47.280 Future Farmer or future farmer, they or they the future farmers. 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.880 That's that's great. I think we covered all the base. 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.840 I think so. Um, So you have an app there, 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.600 and machine learning becomes more intelligent, the Internet of Things 0:23:58.720 --> 0:24:01.159 kind of gets a little more robot and then you 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:06.000 have farmers that don't have to constantly make these tiny 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:10.000 little decisions, these micro decisions that they have to make 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:13.200 every day about keeping their farm healthy. They can kind 0:24:13.200 --> 0:24:15.639 of rely on this AI technology to figure it out 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:18.160 and do it for them. Uh, and I guess they 0:24:18.160 --> 0:24:21.320 can spend their time building future weapons to fight the 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:26.320 eventual robot uprising. That's right. But I mean, like think 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:28.720