Alltech's Chief Information Officer Tim Arthur described how technology will be used in the future in agriculture during the 30th Alltech Symposium.
Predictive analytics, such as weather forecasts, are currently used in agriculture. In the future, prescriptive analytics will be incorporated to make business decisions on our behalf. The United Parcel Service (UPS) currently uses prescriptive analytics to direct its packages around the world, but this technology has yet to make its way to the farm due to its high cost. However, “The $100,000 you have to invest in technology now will [cost] $1,000 10 years from now,” said Arthur.
Arthur described a world in which a farmer would not have to visit his or her complex in order to discover coccidiosis in poultry or to address porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus in swine, because programs will act on behalf of the farmer to take corrective action. He also suggests that this technology will be applied to grain fields, tractors and animal nutritional needs.
