This morning, I saw a cartoon from The New Yorker. The caption reads: “One day, son, this farmland will be yours to sell to a tech company building data centers.” Funny. But maybe not that far from reality.
Across the world, fiber cables are being laid, AI models are being trained, and server farms are expanding. Developed countries are busy building the backbone of the digital economy. Many of them import food often from the same developing countries now selling land to tech parks.
So here’s the question: If farms become servers, and developing nations can’t tech up fast enough, who’s going to grow our food?
In developed nations, tech powers agriculture. Smart irrigation, soil sensors, drones, and robotics help farmers produce more with less. Even if they import certain foods, their systems are tech backed and resilient.
But in many parts of the developing world, it’s a different story. Small farmers still run on 2G. Many don’t have access to smartphones, real-time data, or even reliable weather forecasts. We talk about AI in agri, but on ground it sounds more like: Can we get data on rainfed maize in a district? Sorry, we operate under 2G… still loading.
Let’s be clear. This isn’t a tech vs agri debate. That’s a false binary. The real question is, Why aren’t they working together?
We don’t have to pick between grain and gigabytes. Agri and tech should go hand in hand. Data centers need land. So do crops. It’s not about this or that. It’s about how and who.
The truth is the land used by solar parks and server farms is still minimal overall. Most of it is near metros or degraded zones. But if tech is rolled out without inclusion, then it becomes another land grab.
Countries like India need to lead with a middle path. One that invests in both digital infra and agricultural resilience. We can’t afford to choose between food and future. We need both. So, back to the question.
Who will grow crops in a world obsessed with tech?
The answer won’t come from code alone. It’ll come from policies that value land, systems that include the small farmers, and tech that doesn’t leave anyone buffering.
Because no matter how advanced we become, we still need to eat. Governance sits at the heart of this. Who owns land? Who makes decisions? Who benefits? That’s where we’ll go next.
Cheers!
Check out the other post: Just Start. Finish What You Start!
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