Bryon Majusiak, a senior mechanical engineer with Blue River Technology, works on his computer next to a tractor as others assemble a See & Spray agricultural machine that combines computer vision and artificial intelligence to detect and precisely spray herbicides onto weeds in a farm field in Sunnyvale, California. REUTERS/ Stephen Lam

Now Cropping Up: Robo-Farming
Manufacturers are racing to develop what they see as the future of farming: robo-tractors and other farming equipment to help produce more food, more sustainably at a lower cost. The next generation is tractors that can drive entirely by themselves. After that: ones that can plant, fertilize, and spray pesticides.

Veteran Tesla Engineer Leaving for Greener Pastures: AgTech Startup Plenty
Nick Kalayjian, a high-ranking Tesla engineer, is joining Plenty, a San Francisco-based ag-tech startup. Co-founded by CEO Matt Barnard, Plenty is a unicorn in the fast-developing indoor agriculture space, luring Silicon Valley talent and capital to create high-yield vertical farms that use a fraction of the energy and water needed for field-grown crops.

How AI Might Create More, Not Less, Work Opportunity
A very near-term benefit of AI is to help reduce the labor shortage in labor-heavy industries such as manufacturing and agriculture. What’s happening in these industries is that there’s actually too much work that people don’t want to do. Agriculture, for example, is the least digitalized industry. This is a clear opportunity for innovation.

Experts Say Algae Is the Food of the Future. Here's Why.
The UN projects food production will need to increase as much as 70 percent by 2050 to feed an extra 2.5 billion people. To survive, we need to reinvent the way we farm and eat. Experts say algae could be a possible solution. Unlike most crops, it doesn't require fresh water to flourish. About 70 percent of the planet's available fresh water goes toward crops and raising livestock.