REGINA Its April 2024 and farmer Hank Fairfields mind has turned to seeding.

He summons his computerized butler and requests a report on moisture and temperature. A flock of mini-drones to cruise over the fields, looking into them to a depth of three feet.

That lets Hank create a map of where fertilizer and pesticides must be applied.

He can even release natural predators like ladybugs to consume the pests before they hatch.

And from all this, he can prepare a schedule of seeding using robot tractors.

Thats the future farm, as sketched by Toronto-based futurist Richard Worzel who conceded to a standing-room-only audience of farmers and allies that things wont work out this way as there are too many events we havent anticipated.

Still, scenarios like this give an ideas of whats to come in whats already one of the most high-tech of all North American industries: farming.

Clearly, its going to involve more computers, robots, biotechnology and computer intelligence, he told chemical giant BASFs Knowledge Harvest event for elite farmers in Regina Tuesday.

Painting a picture of a world in which a farmer can monitor every bit of land and every animal around the clock, Worzel said one of its key economic drivers will be continued growth in developing economies like China, where the average daily calorie intake has gone from 1,400 in 1960 to 2,600 at present, with consumption of meat and dairy products growing particularly fast.

The same demand will come from India, and some countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, causing him to say that for the first time in a century, the future of farming is better than ever.

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Robot tractors and drones seen in futurist's vision of farming