March of the machines

The experts are wrong: there is no way robots and computers can make farmers redundant, says Clodhopper .

Artificial intelligence – or AI as it is known – is not something I know much about. And being described as of average intelligence by my school teachers probably disqualifies me from commenting on the fact that the machines are coming.

But if you follow Elon Musk, who warns about the dangers of AI, then maybe it is worth sitting up and taking notice. The multi-billionnaire wants a six-month timeout on the latest AI systems. We need time to breath – even if the machines don’t.

There is nothing new in the idea that technology has arrived with the prospect of doing things quicker and better – and putting people out of jobs. Just hark back to the Swing Riots which accompanied the arrival of the threshing machine in the 19th century.

Milking cows

People rioted – but the idea that threshing machines caused mass unemployment during the Victorian age is ill-founded. It wasn’t so much technology that saw people leave the land as the lure of better paid jobs in newly industrialised towns and cities.

Technology has generally been good for

Who will really benefit from artificial intelligence?

farming. Who wants to hand hoe sugar beet, for example? Or hand milk cows? These days, AI has already been applied to aid the early detection of pests and diseases – in plants as well as animals.

Then there are images of crops captured by drones and analysed by computer. We have AI-controlled livestock feeding regimes. Driverless tractors haven’t yet been introduced on a large scale yet – but that too could be just around the corner.

But there are real questions to ask. What is a major doubt is who will benefit from the increase in productivity? What happens if all the technology gains are in the hands of a few tech giants, rather than growers and livestock producers?

Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates? Will employment levels fall? The jury is out once again. Numerous surveys suggest millions of jobs could be at risk. But nobody knows for certain.

Fast pace

What we do know is that technology moves at a fast pace. But machines are expensive and farm workers are by comparison relatively cheap. And even if robots don’t fall ill or suffer from hangovers, they can go terribly wrong. And expensively so.

Could robots really replace farm staff? True, they have already replaced human milkers on many farms. But can they calve a cow? Or lamb a ewe? Or replace a broken fuel pipe at 10.30pm at night?

Or blow down dust and straw from a com- bine engine at the height of harvest? Or weld up a broken sieve? Or push up grain? Or remove a piece of bog oak from a jammed threshing drum?

All these jobs involve so-called basic skills that us workers have developed since the Stone Age. A computer might be able to beat a Grand Master chess champion – but supposedly easier tasks are often better done by mere humans.

Average workers

Predictions that the average worker would only be required to work 15-20 hours a week have proved wide of the mark. And it is white collar workers rather than blue collar workers whose jobs are most at risk from AI.

Politicians like to embrace the possibilities promised by AI. Listen to technology secretary Michelle Donelan, who says she wants AI to make the UK a smarter, healthier and happier place to live and work.

This is all fine if the technology works. But lose the signal and most of the younger generation cannot keep straight or figure out how to manually drive a beet drill over the top of a hill without any markers.

It’s only then you begin to understand how we already depend on AI in our everyday lives. No doubt the technology is here to stay. But will it create a farm workforce who can mould together and make the farm a happy place to be?

I very much doubt it – but I will let you know when I have worked out how to get the broadband signal back.

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