Technology and machinery in agriculture and livestock made the first table of the last session of the 3rd Congress of Agri-food stars, with Esther Álvarez Fernández, CEO of Instalación Ganaderas Pellitero, and Francisco Javier López Díez, professor of agricultural mechanization at the School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering of the University of Leon.
Álvarez bets on his costs, the farmers undertake “exhausted control”. They are looking for production but to be useful in order to reduce costs and to apply technologies, “which makes their lives easier and will produce more milk for cattle”. Now he promises that there is a lack of manpower, and we need to innovate. “It is automation that allows us to rest more and focus on what is most important without paying attention to the most urgent,” says Esther Álvarez.
In his opinion, the new generations are going for “less work but more money” because of technology. Seniors “go in” when they realize that technology can make their lives easier, says Álvarez. Professor López Díez is of the same opinion. Young people believe it is easier to become familiar with new technologies. “There’s the age of the young farmer who catches on quickly and there’s the figure of the slightly older farmer or rancher who requires a lot more work,” he says. Young people can easily enter to use technology, but training and technical support must be provided.
López asserts that technology has been and continues to be a rural revolution in an invisible way. “We can’t imagine where this could come in just a few years, given the speed with which the use of technology in the field is evolving,” the professor states.
Representative Pellitero believes that the model has completely changed, although there are still older people who work the old way, but the young people who enter are more and more ready to reactivate schools that were previously obsolete.
He confirms that he must be careful in the acquisitions and the amount of costs that are transferred, and this has to do with the work that is attached to the technology. “Everyone has to evaluate what suits them best,” he asserts. It is the same opinion of Francisco Javier López, for whom the funds are very high and “you must think carefully about the costs that these investments bring.” A priori, the investment will have a return “but people are encouraged to do the math accurately”.
As for the future, where technology is concerned, the professor believes that today’s technologies will cover the needs of agriculture 4.0. He sees the need to insist on the issue of education and to start a better education and financial support for young people. “The systems are slow and sometimes it takes help to appear,” he qualifies.
For Álvarez, the industry tends to integrate the fattening cattle and advise on the power it should have. “Institutions need to foster more because it’s a bit more of a neglected sector,” he said. These resources allow, in his opinion, to support the composition of people in the rural world, and the companies that offer and manage this type of support should specialize.
Internet coverage also comes into discussion, with deficiencies that cannot be resolved, according to Álvarez. López thinks the same, who believes that administrations should be more effective in this sense. “Government processes are faster and more efficient,” he says.
For López, all the time that is dedicated to the administration must be done through electronic mail so as not to waste so much time, although he is aware that older people, who have more problems, believes that this can be paid well. tools
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