That’s what my guy at Cargill is for!
Honestly, they already know – most farmers these days have college degrees in soil science or agribusiness or horticulture or whatever. After all, most farms are owned by Big Ag and they’ve presumably got the same “we just immediately shred your resume if you don’t have at least a bachelor’s, whether the job actually needs it or not” applicant gatekeeping standards as the rest of corporate America.
If they’re not doing the sustainable thing it’s not because they’re ignorant, it’s because it’s less profitable than the unsustainable thing and they’re choosing the shortsighted option on purpose.
An ag class is where is finally understood what the quadratic equation was for.
In 2019, a guy at my work told me that his cousin, who was significantly more rural than him, was working on plotting all his fields with drones so he could could largely automate harvesting as well as engage in targeted fertilizing, pesticide and herbicide application. Same person also apparently was running a (legal) grow operation out of a big barn that they were trying to make carbon neutral with on-site renewables.
Folks in ‘rural’ trades can be very high tech if they know how it’ll make them money.
A large reason for that is that corporate farms have won out over family farms. The family farms that are still standing have taken similar approaches and there’s been a lot more effort invested in actually learning the science and business as you point out. 30 years ago it was a much different story.
