AI in Agriculture: A New Tech Revolution or a Looming Disaster?
October 23, 2025 Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the hottest topics of society. We are all trying to learn how it works. How AI can be used in agriculture. How it might affect jobs. How to use it without giving away company information and intellectual property.
So many questions. And the answers are changing almost daily.
Past Fears of New Technology
Let’s go back in history to another tool that was coming into existence … the internet. If I remember correctly, when the internet was entering the computer era, very similar conversations were being had. One segment of people touted, “We were entering the ‘information era’ and we were going to have the world at our fingertips!” Another segment touted that “it was going to be the end of civilization as we know it!” Sound familiar?
Thirty-plus years later, which is it? Great tool with the world at our fingertips or the end of civilization? Some would argue that both are correct. We do have the world at our fingertips. Instead of having to go to the library or owning a full set of encyclopedias, we get information in seconds rather than hours or possibly days. But there are also things on the internet that we would probably be better off without.
So, the question goes back to AI. Are there tools using AI that can be a great benefit? Absolutely! AI can streamline workloads and help when we don’t know where to start a project. A lot of people use AI for more professional writing and writing in difficult situations. I can even use AI around my yard to see why my yard doesn’t look like the one on the fertilizer bag. There are a lot of great uses for AI. There’s no question.
Are there great concerns about AI? Absolutely! For me, along with a number of other concerns, the greatest is the loss of critical thinking. We have a problem. We ask AI and get the answer. We don’t have to think through the problem to evaluate all sides and gain wisdom. I’ve even seen a commercial for people who have personal issues to be able to talk with their phones instead of their friends. AI is great with the data and trends, but can’t see how the people involved will impact the situation.
I believe that using data to generate valuable information to make better decisions is what we should be doing. The internet and AI are great tools to do that. But we can’t forget the human side of life. We should be thinking through tough situations to make decisions. We need to interact with people and know who we can trust so that when we hit tough times, we can talk with them and get real feedback, not some algorithmic reply.
How to Use AI Responsibly
So, what should we do? Do we use AI? Of course we should. But we use it as the tool that it’s meant to be. Use it in balance with learning and experience. You may not know it, but you may already be using it in apps on your phone. But just like a quote that was attributed to President Ronald Reagan, we need to “Trust but verify.” We do that with people. We do that with the internet. We need to do that with AI.
To ask the question once more. Is AI a great revolutionary tool or the end of existence as we know it? I believe the answer is “Probably. But we don’t know, yet.” If we use it as the tool that it is, it will be revolutionary. However, we need to be diligent to make sure that the pool of data and information that is used is good. Otherwise, it’s garbage in and garbage out.
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