2020 Mega Trends: Conservation Agriculture

Following a decade with the introduction of societal shifters like the smart phone and rapid expansion of social media, 2020 could be the starting block for the fastest technological race in agricultural history. Combining big data with cutting edge science, artificial intelligence and cloud connected technology has the potential revolutionize farming in ways only dreamed up in movies. We asked three farm futurists for their predictions for the next decade. We broke the mega trends down to five key categories. Here are the mega trends for conservation agriculture:
Cover Crops
According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, in just five years cover crop plantings surged by 50% to 15.4 million acres in the U.S. In eight states, many in the heart of the corn belt, cover crop plantings grew by more than 100% from 2012 to 2017. That trend, maybe as high as 40 million acres, is forecast to continue as soil health, nutrient management and carbon sequestration efforts continue to incentivize the practice. “Agriculture is the only industry that can prove it can sequester more carbon than what Mother Nature's already sequestering,” says Lowell Catlett, futurist, economist and former dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University.
Microbial Farming
Farming above ground may soon get just as much attention as what’s happening below ground. New discoveries are finding that microbes, like bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa, have real potential for major breakthroughs in agriculture. “I call it subterranean agriculture,” says Catlett. “We're going to manage below the surface just as much as above it thanks to the growing interests in the microbe arena.” According to Markets and Markets Research, the agricultural microbial market will be worth $6 billion by 2022...MORE