Association of Equipment Manufacturers Identifies Trends Shaping the Future of Food

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers recent whitepaper, The Future of Food Production, identifies 13 trends expected to shape food production over the next ten years. AEM President Megan Tanel says preparing the whitepaper was a collaborative effort by AEM members

Tanel… “The goal of this white paper is to present a look at the next ten years of food production. It's providing information to help farmers prepare for the impacts that are emerging today and in the future. And obviously as we represent the equipment manufacturers, we are hand in hand with the farmers, we've got to be partners together in this.”

Top level trends, Tanel says, include water issues and the needed increase of food production

Tanel… “Farmers have increasingly been asked to produce more while reducing their environmental impact. But what we see coming is a global population increase by roughly 2.2 billion in the year 2050. And that means farmers will have to grow about 70 percent more food. The evolution of technology from our OEMs is key, but really the adoption of that technology will be the main point in being able to meet the food production demands coming in the future. For us, one big way of doing that, of course, is with precision agriculture. additional trends, or things that we really need to keep an eye on, the optimization of water usage. Concerns about water depletion will drive technology adoption to improve soil management and optimization of water use.”

Tanel adds you can find the complete whitepaper online at aem.org.