At 7 a.m. on the 15th last month, local time, on a farm in Bismarck, North Dakota, as a light rain fell. A massive cornfield stretched out to the horizon. This is the corn farm of Spence Koinik, about half the size of Gangnam District in Seoul, covering about 4,500 acres (5.5 million pyeong). Stepping into a large container warehouse, three giant-sized farm machines were waiting in front of us. A single tractor tire rose well above an adult's height, and the tractor stood taller than a bus. The herbicide sprayer's boom spanned a whopping 120 feet (about 50 meters).
What was surprising was not just the size of the machines. The planter Spence uses analyzes soil conditions in real time, sowing more seeds in fertile ground and only the minimum in poor soil, he said. The sprayer identifies weed types with cameras and applies only as much herbicide as needed where it is needed. It moves at 80–96 kph and can manage 220,000 pyeong (180 acres) at once. The tractor has Autonomous Driving capabilities to roam the fields on its own, and the farmer checks machine location, work speed, Production yield, and more in real time through a smartphone app. Thanks to farm equipment combining artificial intelligence (AI) and Autonomous Driving, Spence runs a corn farm half the size of Gangnam District with just one employee.
◇ U.S. farmers farm with data… addressing aging and securing sustainability
Smart technology is permeating U.S. agriculture. Beyond first-generation hardware-centered smart farming, second-generation AI-based smart farming is advancing. As farm machinery corporations offer a variety of features such as GPS (global positioning system), Autonomous Driving, and big data, farmers can use apps to check "data maps" in real time showing work areas and unworked areas, problem zones, and areas with high Production yield.
Digital agriculture in the United States is growing rapidly. According to market research firm STATIFACTS, the current U.S. digital agriculture market is $9.72 billion and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 9.76% to $22.08 billion by 2034.
Farm households are eager to adopt AI farm machinery because machines incorporating AI play a strong role in cultivating large-scale land, boosting farm efficiency. Spence said, "In my father's time, all we did was farm 1,000 acres (about 1,224,000 pyeong) throughout the spring, but now we can plant 400 acres (about 490,000 pyeong) in a single day," adding, "I invest $2 million in machinery and $10,000 a year in software fees, and it's worth it."
Carlson, whom we met in Fargo, North Dakota, shared a similar experience. "Unlike the past, expense has gone down and output has increased," he said. "This month, the corn harvester is playing a big role in the work." The harvester assesses corn distribution to adjust row spacing, removes stalks, silk, and husks, and separates the kernels. It also checks moisture content to guide drying levels for feed or fuel use.
Digital transformation not only improves efficiency and productivity but also greatly helps address aging. In the 2022 Agricultural Census released last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average age of U.S. farmers was 58.1, and farmers aged 65 or older outnumbered those under 35 by four to one. In this situation, automated farm machinery and AI technology are becoming the "hands and feet" of an aging agricultural sector. Farmers serve as on-site managers, and machines can work from dawn to night.
Sustainable agriculture is also intertwined with digitalization. According to a 2021 report by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), farmers who adopted precision agriculture cut water use by 4%, fertilizer by 8%, and herbicides by 9%. The U.S. government is also actively supporting sustainable agriculture for farm households. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) under the USDA runs the SMART Nutrient Management Program, which optimizes nutrient use while maintaining or increasing yields, and provides financial support to farms that practice both precision agriculture and environmental protection. It is also promoting the spread of sustainable farming practices for soil health, water quality improvement, and greenhouse gas reduction through programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
◇ From small farms to aging… digitalization is urgent for Korean farms
However, the reality in Korea is the exact opposite. While the average cultivated area per farm in the United States reaches 80 hectares, more than half in Korea are small farms of less than 0.5 hectare. Most are small-scale farms, and cases of switching careers or giving up farming are increasing due to aging. As the number of farm households and the farm population continues to decline, last year the share of farm operators aged 70 or older exceeded half (50.8%) of the total. The farm aging rate also hit a record high of 55.8%, and the farm population declined across all age groups except those in their 70s.
The digital divide among farmers is also severe. According to this year's release by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the level of digital informatization among farmers and fishers was about 80% of that of the general public. Moreover, farm use of digital technology is largely limited to online sales of agricultural products or distribution promotion, and it has not significantly contributed to improving efficiency in actual agricultural production processes.
Some farms are adopting smart agriculture, but many assess that the development level of smart agriculture in Korea is still in its early stages. The smart agriculture technologies currently in use are mainly focused on saving labor and improving work convenience, and are far removed from big data-based productivity gains or the use of AI and robotics.
Some public institutions under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs collect agricultural data, but critics say poor inter-agency linkage undermines usability. They also say it is difficult to ensure the reliability of the data being built because surveys do not cover all farms.
Experts suggested integrating small plots into large-scale operations or forming cooperatives to jointly use digital farm machinery. Baek Seung-woo, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Jeonbuk National University, said, "In the United States, there are many large farms with average cultivated areas of over 100 hectares per household, but in Korea, most are small farms at around 1.5 hectares, so it is difficult even to purchase farm machinery equipped with AI," adding, "Right now our farms rely heavily on foreign workers." He added, "Since labor costs for foreign workers are not trivial, our farms should also form organizations to jointly purchase and use advanced farm machinery as an alternative."