Market Trends of Agricultural Robots Industry
This section covers the major market trends shaping the Agricultural Robots Market according to our research experts:
Labor Shortage and Increasing Costs of Labor
- The agriculture labor force has decreased in recent years due to the reduced interest in farming, combined with the aging farmer population. As the population of farm laborers continues to decline, farmers are feeling pressure to keep up with production for the growing demand for fresh produce. Moreover, the downward trend of labor is translating into higher labor wages.
- Furthermore, the agricultural industry in the United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries, depend on laborers, and a similar trend is seen across other developed countries as well. Agricultural employment has declined by 15% in the last decade around the globe, according to World Bank data. The labor shortage has become a global problem, with an aging farmer population that further limits the supply of manual labor. Thus, automated farming systems can help to reduce the pressures of the farm labor shortage. Agtech can bring new efficiencies to farm systems and drive overall productivity.
- Consequently, with a shortage of available workers, stakeholders are looking at how to modernize the farms. For instance, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) reported that 56% of US farms have begun using agritech, with more than half stating labor shortage as the reason. The use of innovative agrotechnology includes wireless sensors, robotics, predictive forecasting model, and data analytics. Thus, increasing labor shortages and wages are driving the growth of the market.
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North America Dominates the Market
- North America accounted for the largest share of the agricultural robots market. The market in the region is driven by the higher adoption of advanced technology due to increasing labor shortage, high labor costs in the region, and high per-capita disposable income. Increasing government encouragement for the deployment of robots in agriculture, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, driverless tractors, and other agriculture systems to provide smart farming, are some of the factors contributing to the region's growth. To increase the yields and reduce the costs of farmers, some of the players in this market are heavily investing in developing cost-efficient and highly productive robots.
- For instance, in 2021, Future Acres, based in Santa Monica, launched its first robot, Carry, with plans to tackle grape picking. Carry relies on AI to transport hand-picked crops, working alongside humans. Hence, reducing the challenges of labor shortages and introducing new products into the market suiting the farmer's needs are driving the growth of the agricultural robots market in the North American region.
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