Smart farming: Agriculture's shift from a labor intensive to technology native industry

Since human beings transitioned to an agrarian lifestyle, technological advancements have enabled evolutions in agriculture, resulting in greater varieties and yields of crops. However, as society faces the effects of climate change and the resulting social challenges, agriculture is at a unique point in its history. Recent advancements in a number of key technologies have placed agriculture at the precipice of another evolution that could not only affect the variety and yield of crops, but also climatological and social outcomes as well. Specifically, advancements with the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and robotics among others have enabled data-driven and automated agriculture. This paper intends to provide a review of current and emerging agriculture technology applications as well as research efforts by examining the advancement of these key technologies in the context of smart farming. We also present future directions for these agriculture technology applications. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.