Agriculture 4.0: Technologies and their Effects on the Labor Market

Szőke, Viktória – Kovács, László

Keywords: agriculture 4.0, digital agriculture, labour market effects, Q10, Q16

The 4.0 revolution of agriculture is taking place today. The technologies and solutions under development no longer focus on the means of production, but on data: data collection, data processing and data-based implementation. Some agricultural processes are automated already today. Based on a literature review the study draws conclusions and formulates recommendations regarding the expected labour market effects of agriculture 4.0. The first part of the study gives a brief overview of these technologies, presenting the current development trends of digital devices for agricultural data collection and work. This provides the basis for the second part of the study, which highlights the potential impact of the current agricultural technologies on the labour market in the context of education, farm management and job creation. Education must equip future employees with the challenges of a rapidly changing digital environment. The responsibilities of the farm managers are changing: getting and retaining the best available workforce comes to the forefront. The digital transformation of agriculture will have a dual impact on jobs: while on farms it may lead to job losses, it will create highly skilled jobs in R&D and start-ups. The last part of the study makes suggestions to farm managers: the digitalisation of agriculture will require an assessment of a new applicants’ digital literacy skills. In addition, plant managers will need to acquire soft skills that will help retain agricultural workforce.

Full article