The Roots Need Wi-Fi: Farmers Must Lead the Tech Uprising
Rescuing American farming requires more than subsidies or smart sensors. If agriculture is to survive the next 20 years, farmers must lead the tech revolution—not be dragged by it.
For generations, farmers have innovated with what they had: land, weather, and grit. But today’s battles are fought with data, drones, and digital twins. Yet, many policies still treat farmers like relics of the past. According to a 2020 USDA Economic Research Service report, fewer than 25% of farms use precision ag technologies, and fewer than 10% use decision-support software at scale. That’s not a failure of intelligence—it’s a failure of inclusion.
If we want resilient food systems, America must prioritize farmer tech fluency just as much as tech funding. Upskilling the people who steward 900 million acres of farmland must be a top national priority.
Policy Needs Plowshares: Unlocking Organic Growth Through Legislative Reform
Farming policies in the U.S. are decades behind both the climate crisis and consumer demand. The American appetite for organic, sustainable, and traceable food is booming, but savings aren’t being passed to either the farmer or the end consumer.
The National Organic Program has expanded, but the infrastructure to support organic practices—like cover cropping, biodiverse soil management, and local cold-chain logistics—is expensive and under-incentivized. This makes organic goods cost more, keeping them out of reach for many and cutting farmers off from potential profits.
Legislative tools such as the 2023 Farm Bill revisions must start treating organic and regenerative agriculture as the future, not a fringe movement. A 2022 study from the Environmental Working Group found that only 0.5% of federal farm subsidies went to organic farming initiatives【source: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2022/07/federal-farm-subsidies-continue-ignore-organic-farming】. That’s a policy error we cannot afford.
The Data Divide: Farmers as Creators, Not Just Consumers
Modern agriculture is generating more data than ever—from drone imagery and in-soil sensors to satellite-based moisture readings. But who owns that data? Who gets to interpret it? Who builds the platforms? Too often, it’s Silicon Valley, not the farmer.
This is not just about fairness—it’s about accuracy. Farmers must remain the primary narrators of their own data. Precision tools are only precise if they reflect localized knowledge.
As noted by agtech leader Rob Trice, Founder of The Mixing Bowl, “If you’re not involving the farmer in designing the technology, you’re designing a solution in search of a problem.”【source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nikkibaird/2022/03/10/technology-in-agriculture-cant-leave-farmers-behind/?sh=6cd2dbbc422b】
That’s why a22a™ is working to ensure that our Digital Twin Engine doesn’t just model the farm—it evolves with it. Data should serve the farmer, not the other way around.
Investing in Experience: Upskilling Without Erasing
There’s a dangerous trend in AgTech: replacing farmers with engineers, rather than enhancing them. This logic is flawed. A farmer with 30 years of intuition on microclimates is worth more to the future of farming than an AI model trained on misaligned variables.
Upskilling must become the center of agtech culture. Not every farmer needs to code—but every farmer must feel like the technology was built for them. We must design tools that are field-tested not just for accuracy, but usability by the people who produce our food.
Programs like the USDA’s “Bridging the Tech Gap” pilot and private ventures like AgLaunch in Tennessee show that training farmers in data science and digital mapping pays dividends. According to a 2021 report by McKinsey & Company, farms that adopt integrated digital tools with training can increase profitability by up to 15% in just two seasons【source: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/how-digital-tools-can-help-transform-agriculture】.
From Forgotten to First: A Call to Keep Farmers at the Table
We’re not resurrecting American farming with satellites and spreadsheets alone. To truly modernize agriculture, farmers must sit at the center of every agtech conversation—as users, as investors, as designers, as policymakers.
Every tool a22a™ builds is based on one truth: the future of food is a human one. Digital twins, precision inputs, and sustainable outputs are only as effective as the people using them. That’s why our platform doesn’t just simulate—it learns from the farmer’s hand.
We don’t need fewer farmers. We need more empowered ones.
Let’s upskill the soil.
At a22a™, we’re committed to putting farmers first in the agtech conversation. Are you a policymaker, investor, or technologist ready to keep them at the table? Let’s build the future of agriculture—together.
Contact us or learn more at www.a22a.co
