What Happens When...a Goldman Sachs Analyst Tries "Precision Farming"

The world's food supply needs to increase 70% over the next 30 years to keep pace with population growth – a task made only more complicated by the limits of natural resources. "Because we're out of arable land, all of that production growth has to come out of the existing footprint," says Goldman Sachs Research's Jerry Revich, who despite the scale of the problem sees the challenge as surmountable. In his view, the next leg of food supply growth will be fueled by technologies that can help farmers get more from the land, while increasing sustainability – a solution known as "precision farming." This includes self-driving tractors paired with precision planters that are optimized to plant more seeds in the most fertile patches of land - a technology Revich recently had the chance to experience firsthand. "What we saw today was the first building block in what we need to see to feed a growing population," Revich reflected as we followed him through his day in the field.