We are no longer restricted to only farming when the sun is up – and are witnessing the dawn of the digital harvest.
— Jim Carroll
Original 2021 statement: We’re moving to a world of 24-hour farming - autonomy means that we no longer have to farm only when the sun is up
What Jim has written about this
From “Megatrends One Year Later – #15: 24-Hour Farming & Agricultural Reinvention – What I Predicted, and What’s Actually Happening” (August 2026)
One year ago, in July 2025, I published Megatrend #15: 24-Hour Farming & Agricultural Reinvention as part of my 30 Megatrends series. Time to grade myself.
As I’ve always liked to say on stage, we’re moving from a world in which we are no longer restricted to farming when the sun is up. We’re moving to a world in which we can be farming 24 hours a day.
From “Decoding Tomorrow: 30 Megatrends - #15 - 24-Hour Farming & Agricultural Reinvention “We are no longer restricted to only farming when the sun is up - and are witnessing the dawn of the digital harvest.”” (July 2025)
“We are no longer restricted to only farming when the sun is up - and are witnessing the dawn of the digital harvest.” - Futurist Jim Carroll
As I’ve always liked to say on stage, we’re moving from a world in which we are no longer restricted to farming when the sun is up - we’re moving to a world in which we can be farming 24 hours a day.
One that leads to a potential future in which we are no longer restricted to farming outdoors – in the future, we will be doing much more of it indoors as well. As a global society, we need to do this because as the world’s population grows to 8 billion, we need BIG, bold solutions to come up with new ways of growing global food production. And what has happened is that our early experiments with the concept of growing indoors are about to enter the industrial scale, as we see the arrival of trends that bring together technology, advanced science, disruptive ideas, and new concepts – bringing into reality a new industry that promises to provide fast innovation that solves one of the biggest challenges of our time!
From “Daily Inspiration: “It’s time to move from triage to tomorrow!”” (January 2023)
My last 3 events before Covid were firmly linked to the opportunities of the future. The American Truck Dealers Association brought me in for a keynote that took at the electrification of their industry, the arrival of hyper-connected trucking technology, and the potential for autonomous technology. Syngenta, the global agricultural company, had me in for a talk to key dealers on how farmers were aligned to fast-moving science trends with fast genomics, autonomy, the potential world of 24-hour farming, and more. The Canadian Golf Superintendents Association - my very last in-person event in March 2020 - took a look at the future of the golf industry, some of the new technologies, concepts, and ideas coming into the game, and how that might influence their work.
You’ll have a custom 3D food printer in your home as you become a part of the world of real-time, customizable food programming
The world of science will have taken us from 19 million known chemical substances today to 5 billion by 2100 - and this will lead to the birth of countless new billion-dollar industries
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Megatrends One Year Later – #15: 24-Hour Farming & Agricultural Reinvention – What I Predicted, and What’s Actually Happening
Decoding Tomorrow: 30 Megatrends - #15 - 24-Hour Farming & Agricultural Reinvention “We are no longer restricted to only farming when the sun is up - and are witnessing the dawn of the digital harvest.”
Daily Inspiration: “It’s time to move from triage to tomorrow!”