The next generation of infrastructure drives economic growth through purposeful design.
— Jim Carroll
The opportunity
Enhance the ecological health of farmland, increase its resilience to climate change, reduce the need for synthetic inputs, and contribute to carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere.
From “Decoding Tomorrow: 30 Megatrends - #9 Climate-Positive Technologies: “The next generation of infrastructure will drive economic growth through purposeful design.”” (July 2025)
What exactly does ” climate-positive ” mean? It transcends the idea of net-zero carbon emissions by actively generating environmental benefits, specifically by extracting additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Regenerative Agriculture: Enhancing soil health and carbon sequestration through farming practices.
Cover Crops: Adding organic material to soil, which is decomposed and stored as soil organic carbon.
From “AI Megatrends - AI in Agriculture - Beyond ChatGPT: It’s Not Your Granddad’s Farm Anymore!” (April 2023)
That’s what I’ve been stressing in the world of agriculture for many years, through dozens of keynotes to most major agricultural organizations. Organizations like Nutrien, FMC Agriculture, Simplot, Eli Lilly, Dupont, Purina, Land O’ Lakes, the United Soybean Board, and even the US Department of Agriculture have had me in. I guess the biggest compliment came when, after one agricultural keynote, one fellow asked me how long I had been a farmer.
Precision agriculture: PA has been with us for close to 30-40 years as a concept; slowly moving at first, it has finally picked up significant speed in the last decade. AI moves it forward as it takes on the role to analyze data from sensors and drones to create precise maps of crops, allowing farmers to optimize irrigation, fertilizer, and pesticide use.
Pest control: Bugs! Pests! Birds! Small animals! The enemies of agriculture! AI can analyze data on weather patterns and pest populations to predict outbreaks and suggest appropriate treatments, reducing the need for pesticides.
From “Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #2 Agriculture- The farmer of the future is part biologist, part data scientist, and part roboticist—but is still 100% an optimist who plants a seed and believes in tomorrow.”” (September 2025)
Vertical Farming & Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). As the global population grows and arable land shrinks, farming is moving indoors. Vertical farms can reduce land use by up to 99% and water use by 95% while enabling year-round, 24-hour production in urban centers. This radically shortens supply chains, reduces transportation costs, and provides consumers with fresher produce.
This deeper level view is provided by remote sensing from satellites and drones, which scan vast acreages to monitor crop health and identify stress long before it’s visible to the naked eye. Complementing this is the micro-level detail from on-the-ground Internet of Things (IoT) devices providing a constant stream of granular data on soil moisture, nutrient levels, and localized weather.
Design for Resilience, Not Just Yield: View sustainability as an economic driver. Adopt practices like cover cropping and reduced tillage that improve soil health, which in turn reduces input costs and makes your operation more resilient to climate volatility. Explore circular economy principles, such as using an anaerobic digester to turn manure into a value stream (biogas and fertilizer).
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Decoding Tomorrow: 30 Megatrends - #9 Climate-Positive Technologies: “The next generation of infrastructure will drive economic growth through purposeful design.”
AI Megatrends - AI in Agriculture - Beyond ChatGPT: It’s Not Your Granddad’s Farm Anymore!
Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #2 Agriculture- The farmer of the future is part biologist, part data scientist, and part roboticist—but is still 100% an optimist who plants a seed and believes in tomorrow.”