What will the agriculture sector be like, post-crisis?

As the COVID-19 continues to rage, the agriculture sector around the world faces challenges that range from labor shortage to transportation woes to food security issues. Though the future is uncertain, there are several guesses about what the future of the industry will be like. Here are a couple of theories:

Labor Shortage

Countries that are least subject to face food insecurity like Europe and North America still encounter problems in the agricultural sector like labor shortage. In other countries, citizens do not want to work in the fields thus, they rely on foreign farmers. Nations with low numbers of local farmers tend to employ migrant farmers and due to border closures and fear of the crisis, many of their workers do not want to work. The result is that the farms are left unmaintained and crops are dying.

This dependence on temporary migrant workers might probably lead more farms to solve this issue by automation, especially after the crisis.

Advanced technology

Technological advancement will help reduce human labor and will boost farms’ productivity. If farms use advanced equipment like seeding robots, drones, and autonomous tractors, they can go on with lesser workers while intensifying crop production.

After this crisis, the agriculture industry will have more access to markets and customers, but it is still unsure how long the recovery phase will take.

There’s also a possible surge in demand for the technologies, especially for developed countries as an effort to expand their global markets and to help the farms rise again.

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