The UK’s agricultural workforce need to be substantially upskilled to reap the potential benefits of robotics and automated systems (RAS) on farms.
That’s the conclusion of a report from the UK-RAS Network, which looked at the skills requirements of the agri-food and agri-tech sectors in relation to the technological developments of ‘agriculture 4.0’ such as collaborative robots used for tasks on farms, unmanned aerial vehicles and AI-assisted analytics tools.
Joined-up training needed
The researchers found that while training in RAS is well catered for at undergraduate degree level and beyond, vocational and apprentice-level training is lacking, with a lack of standardised approaches and no UK-recognised qualification for RAS operation. The lack of standardisation leads to training generally being carried out by the manufacturers of specific technologies, they noted, meaning it is customised to their hardware and software rather than providing an understanding across systems.
Improvements in non-technical skills are also required, they said, including to integrate animal behaviour and welfare with new technologies, as well as manage legal, ethical and cybersecurity considerations.
Noting research from Europe suggesting that 20% of workers in the agri-food sector are overqualified for their jobs, they suggested that this implies a need for appropriate training at the right level for a changing sector. Skills training also needs to work both ways, they stressed, with technologists understanding how farms work an equally important consideration to farm workers understanding the technology they are working with.
Agriculture’s latest challenge
They underlined that farming has constantly evolved from its very origins, adapting to new challenges and government interventions, with the need to produce high volumes of food amidst labour shortages and environmental pressures simply the latest test the industry has faced.
“The progress made in the development of RAS in recent years provides indispensable tools for tackling the agrifood labour shortage— provided that the agri-food workforce can be made ready to fully exploit these opportunities,” the authors wrote.
To do this, the authors made seven recommendations aimed at a range of groups, including education institutes, business leaders and advisors. These include ensuring technical training at an appropriate level, researching best practice in technical training, and strengthening collaborative work between technologists, farmers and academics to lower barriers to entry for integrating agricultural robotics on farms.
