Is Ted Cruz right that Arizona farmers are using automation to reduce the need for immigrant labor?

This isn't something just happening in Arizona. This is the future of farming in America.

The future in farming will be similar to the future in fast food. It will follow all the trends over the past decade in manufacturing. Anything that can be done by a robot will be done because a robot will be more effective, accurate, tireless, will not require health insurance, workers comp and will at the end of the day be less expensive. Robot's can work 24 hours a day. They don't get sick and don't get hurt. More efficient and less expensive.

The rise in labor costs such as California's recent push to have eventually have a statewide $15/hr minimum wage is only going to accelerate this trend to automation.

For centuries, farming was an intuitive process. Today, it’s networked, analytical, and data-driven. Large farms (1,000 acres or more) started the trend, adopting the tools of precision agriculture—using GPS-guided tractors, drones, and computer modeling to customize how each inch of land is farmed. Farm managers can measure and map things like soil acidity and nitrogen levels, and then apply fertilizer to specific plants—not just spray and pray. As a result, they get the most out of every seed they plant. Such methods have reduced farm costs by an average of 15 percent and increased yields by 13 percent, according to a 2014 survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Small farms—which make up 88 percent of all farms in the U.S., according the Department of Agriculture—are now adopting similar methods, powered by a proliferation of affordable sensors, drones, cameras, wireless networks, and data plans. And they sometimes see better results than large farms. Cox, for one, says he has cut labor and fertilizer costs by as much as 70 percent, and in some cases doubled his crop yields.

The Future Of Food: Completely Automated Farms Run By Robots

A factory in Japan will be the first fully robot-run farm, with a team of automated systems handling every step of the farming process from watering seeds to harvesting crops.

The robots will also monitor levels of carbon dioxide in the air and adjust lighting and heat to optimise growth.

Spread, which has headquarters in Kyoto, says the new system will increase its productivity by over 25 percent, as well as cut costs for consumers. It will be part of a large complex that will cost over £10million to research, develop and build.

The system will be 'vertical' -- where food is produced in vertically stacked layers. Controlling light, environment and fertilisation of the food, food produced in vertical farms is not susceptible to changes in weather and environmental conditions, and can be better monitored for disease.

The only part of the process requiring human input is seeding.

First fully autonomous 'robot run' farm to open in Japan (Wired UK)

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