Robocrop: the end of human agriculture?

[DS-09]

While this is probably not a good time for posting such threads given the current economic downturn- but an interesting article caught my eye while reading some newspapers online. Could farmers (a 10,000 year old profession) be made redundant in the coming years by robots? Don't underestimate, or undermine the potential of farmers been one day displaced by robot workers- as this has happened in hundreds of other professions over the course of the 20th/21st centuries (for instance look at how many 19th and pre-19th century jobs we're manual in comparison to today).

The only tricky bit is this; of course farmers will not be put off the land- but what happens eventually if it is robots doing all the work? I cannot see the population or government at large willingly continue to subsidise agriculture- if it is in fact been done for nothing by robots. However, this would set up jobs of course- paying for, maintaining, controlling and keeping an eye on the robots- but would this be at the expense of farmers? So technically if i'm not mistaken, robot farmers= land nationalisation (a socialist measure by all accounts)- and the removal and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. Interesting article below......

Robot farmhands prepare to invade the countryside - tech - 01 June 2009 - New Scientist

[stewiegriffin]

Could farmers (a 10,000 year old profession) be made redundant in the coming years by robots?
Robot farmhands prepare to invade the countryside - tech - 01 June 2009 - New Scientist

Er , I take it youve seen Tom Parlon? Dont worry tho , they'll get subsidies .
Didnt you read Lowry/Healy Raes manifesto?

[Panopticon]

This kind of technology will be much more useful in countries which specialise in extensive agriculture, like the USA. This is determined by economic forces and geographical conditions, i.e. their Great Plains. Our intensive agriculture has less to gain from automation, especially in the livestock industry.

[reknaw]

As someone who thinned beet and turnips by hand for a pittance and pulled and snagged them in icy November weather, I have no objection in principle to labour-saving devices, but we ought to think carefully about the environmental implications of this and also remember that robots will get smarter and smarter and one day ---

Or maybe it's just part of what is the natural order of things on a galactic scale. First little anaerobic bugs transformed the atmosphere so much that they died off and other bugs that could live in oxygen eventually evolved into us and now we are creating robots and will die off and the robots will evolve into ---

Where are our resident nutbars who are always foaming at the mouth about a few immigrants? If they look at robots from a long-term perspective, they'll see a real problem. LOL

[DS-09]

Er , I take it youve seen Tom Parlon? Dont worry tho , they'll get subsidies .
Didnt you read Lowry/Healy Raes manifesto?

No have you got a link? Seriously though if you have robots doing the work, would this make farmers redundant- just like new machinery made Generals motors or other blue collared workers across the world redundant?