Check this link maybe help you

https://www.nature.com/articles/544S21a

Thank you Jaimie. I have observed this. The social implications could be profound. Could the replacement of human crop pickers by robots lead to joblessness, and social unrest?

@Dr. Charles, I think the next big advance in agriculture is introduction of nanofertilizers, nano-pesticides, nano-induced polysaccharides , triggering plant efficiency through nano-particles, more solar radiation absorption by plant leaves.

The next big advance in agriculture (in my opinion) will have to be a technology, or approach to food production that is free from the use of non-renewable energy (oil) and capable to restore desertified territories to make them usable and biologically productive.

Thanks Bruno, two points there.

Increased use of Technology at the same time ensuring sustainability.

Another big advance in agriculture will have to be a more equitable access to land by the people, while scaling down from land grabbing by large corporation and economic conglomerates whose model of production is extractive and ruthless to social and environmental justice. Therefore, law and better policies should be added to the equation of advances in agriculture, besides technologies.

The use of efficient technologies in boosting and sustaining agricultural production.

The BBC announces publication of a gene map for wheat, crucial information for developing wheats to cope with climate change. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45173968

Thanks to Jaimie Negrete, J C Tarafdar, Bruno Bonsari and Dickson Adom for your contributions.

After 3 days where have we got to?

1) Make more use of technical equipment

2) Reduce dependence on fossil fuels

3) Make the delivery of chemical, fertilisers etc, more precisely targeted.

4) Increase sustainability.

Potentially 1) and 2) are in conflict. What sort of energy do we want to power this technology? I would toss in another point: What do people do if the use of human labour is reduced, so no work==no pay==social unrest?

Points 3) and 4) create another conflict, if by sustainability we mean ecological/biological sustainability.

There is also another potential conflict: Nitrogen fertilisers can be made from ammonia, which can be made from natural gas--back to fossil fuels, global warming and CC,

see below:

http://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/materials-and-applications/fertilizers.html

Is agriculture 'on the decline'? Thats one way of interpreting these figures, another might be that as mechanisation creeps steadily but unstoppably into agriculture this frees labour up to generate income from other activities which can be, or not, related to agriculture. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/farming-agriculture-income-farm-distress-nabard-survey-nsso-5313772/

According, the prediction of Malthus, beyond the demographic growth, the maintenance of the environmental equilibrium will be a decisive factor, to progress in advanced research such as nanoparticles, biotechnology ...., because as a scientist we must always respect the principle of natural equilibrium , to make our science effective.

One step change may be Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). This may facilitate agriculture in so-called 'hostile envirnments'. However, it may have a strong reliance on fossil fuels, for its construction materials if not its running. Will the produce be more expensive than low-tech produce? Will it be pro-poor?. Forthcoming edition of Ag4Dev, journal of Tropical Agriculture Association focuses on CEA.

Food safety is going to be a big issue in agriculture. Many of the pesticides in use today will no longer be used. Big agri input corprates are realizing this and changing their business plans.

I agree food safety will be. already is, a big issue, but Im not sure the corporates will change their plans. My reason for saying that is because the purpose of big corporates is to make the maximum profits for their share holders, 'social responsibility is very secondary. Expecting big corporates to cut profits is like expecting a shark to give up being a top carnivore. Emmanuel V Murray

Dear Charles Howie and all,

Thanks for your interesting discussion on the question raised by Howie. More and more people have concerned about food safety in science, but I personally think it is strongly influenced by policies, especially in the poor and developing countries.

Dear Dr Tran. It is all about policies, and policies are the children of politics, they come from politicians and power pressures. This always been true, though most people are reluctant to suggest this, or accept it. Occasionally grass roots pressure will create policy change, as Vietnamese farmers did in An Giang province in the Mekong Delta, when they did not cooperate with government about agriculture and land policies in the early 1980s, but that is a rare event in any country.

Thanks Dr. Charles Howie. I have learned a lot from your papers and thesis regarding to farmer livelihoods and social issues in An Giang Province, Vietnamese Mekong Delta.

Thank you Tran. My deep wish was to understand what had happened, and maybe a little bit of why it had happened. I did not go to critique Vietnam's development, nor to compare it with other countries, but to understand what I saw in the context of what has gone before, Dung Duc Tran

Advancement in agriculture varies from country to countries for the developing countries it should be on food safety and as the land and labor problems is the major problems in agriculture researchers will focus on farming without soil .

Thanks Meera Kumari . I like your point about variations by country, Im sure that is true., as is your emphasis on food safety. Please can you say some more about what you mean by 'labor problems', and why 'farming without soil' will be a solution? Thanks.

In my own opinion, Conservation Agriculture (CA), climate smart agriculture (CSA) among others.

Olutosin Ademola Otekunrin , can you expand that term, what do you mean by it? Thank you.

I think satellite agriculture is the answer for future agriculture across the globe or we can say site specific crop management

Good point @Drlatief Ahmed. The idea of just generic planting, or irrigation, or use of chemicals is wasteful. Technology has a big part to play. What is the roll of drones?

Charles Howie .The use of chemicals for growing plants is mandatory because without fertilizers we cant grow any plant so without using any commercial fertilizers its better to go natural fertilizers

Sir about the land ,it isapplicable for developing countries like due to pressure of populations 92 percent of the people have less than one hectareof land ,in such situation hydroponics system should be the option to raise the crop.

Increasing population, climate change have led to the decline of arable land per person. Future food production needs a different agriculture system like hydroponics. Vertical farming , Urban agriculture involves the greater use of technology for land use optimization brings significantly increased food production in the future.

It is important to focus on the impacts of climate change on livelihoods, and re-establish the links between poverty, livelihood and environment. However, focusing on the communities only are not enough, and so long as the community initiatives do not become part of the government policies, it is difficult to sustain the efforts. Thus, the link between local, state and national governments to the community is of utmost importance.

yes I do agree with Meera, Community engagement is crucial for upbringing next big change in agriculture. But the government policy should reach the rural people in effective way through community awareness like training etc. will help them to overcome the problem of the future.

Adoption of Intensive farming, use of hybrid seeds, hitech agriculture using high density planting systems, verticle farming, protectiing crops from losses due to diseases & pests, reducing post harvest losses through creation of infrastructure for integrated cold chain will definitely help in increasing yields.

Adoption of Intensive farming, use of hybrid seeds, hitech agriculture using high density planting systems, verticle farming, protectiing crops from losses due to diseases & pests, reducing post harvest losses through creation of infrastructure for integrated cold chain will definitely help in increasing yields.

Quite a list Suresh. If you had to prioritise what would be number 1?

Probably nanotechnology based farming would be very popular and exciting in future.

Required changes in agriculture would be towards sustainable development of agriculture's along with allied sectors .