Our modern world has changed tremendously in the past few centuries.  So much so that a person who lived a hundred years ago would not recognize the world we live in now.  Our society is so infused with technology that our way of life, from how we live to how we communicate, is dependent on modern machines for us to survive.

Although this is true in some industries and sectors of modern society, other sectors remain virtually unchanged.  And although they are dependent on modern technology to make their work easier, the way they do things are practically the same.  Such is true for our agricultural sector.  Although new equipment and tools are used, the agricultural sector is basically about farming.  The main thrust of this industry is production.  Each year, the demand for food and agricultural products are increasing as populations around the world continue to grow.  Today, it is important that a piece of land yield the most so that every harvest season, farmers can meet the growing demands of the population. Such a feat is made possible by the modern technologies used in the age-old practice of farming.

Large scale agriculture will never be possible without the modern day tractor.  This quintessential modern farming tool can do in a day what a fleet of farmers can accomplish in a week.  It is a combination of old farming tools like the reaper and the pitchfork but brought to the modern age with the attachment of a powerful engine that can do the toughest work of tilling the land.  The tractor has brought about innovations in farming ancient farmers can only dream about.

Now that the land is ready to be planted on, technology again makes its presence felt by providing automated planting and watering systems.  When the Romans invented irrigation, they were unaware that more could be done to improve it.  Today, modern planting systems and irrigation systems have the power to check the moisture content of the soil, and adjust how much water it releases for the crops.  Automated watering systems can also be pre-programmed to turn on at specific times of the day, and depending on the amount of sunlight.  In fact these days, most of the farmer’s job is automated: from truck harvesting, to an automated weed sprayer to eliminate problem plants, the farmer becomes more equip to handle more all by himself.  This resulted in an explosion of farms that only need a few hands to operate due to the help of modern technology.

But the most controversial, and perhaps the most promising of all modern day farming technologies, is the use of genetic engineering to artificially select the healthiest crops with the most desirable characteristics to grow and reproduce.  This has made our crops bigger, less prone to sickness, and more adaptable to the environment.  Opponents posit that in doing so we risk losing acres of crops annually due to an infection, which could affect the entire farming industry because all the crops share the same genes, and ultimately, the same genetic predisposition to a certain disease.

Technology has brought about unlimited benefits for our agricultural sector, which is experiencing increasing pressures to produce as much as it can for means that are getting smaller and smaller every year.  Yet due to sheer human ingenuity and perseverance, technology has made it possible.  Indeed necessity is the mother of invention.