It’s a beautiful morning in 1797, and the air is alive with renewal. Seemingly overnight, the apple trees have burst into bloom, and the early-spring songbirds are trilling from fence posts. It’s an exciting time to be an American farmer.

Just three years earlier, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in Georgia. But on this morning, a 17-year-old blacksmith from New Jersey, Charles Newbold, is demonstrating another innovation that could revolutionize agriculture: the world’s first cast-iron plow.

He cuts through Gen. John Black’s orchard as a crowd of curious farmers stand at the edge of the field. They warily watch the teen maneuver his newfangled invention across the recently thawed ground, leaving a furrow of black dirt in its wake.

The plow’s effectiveness is apparent. Newbold cast his patented plow as one piece — melding the moldboard, share and land-side together — with an attached wooden handle and beam.

But the farmers aren’t convinced.

“It’ll poison the earth,” says an older gentleman, referring to the cast iron. He takes out a pipe and blows smoke into the cool air.

“Kids and their technology. What does he even know about farming?” another smirks.

The rest nod in agreement. Margins are thin, and they can’t afford to take a chance on unproven technology. And so, one by one, they leave a dejected Newbold to his innovative work.

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The old wooden plows work just fine. Why try to fix what isn’t broken?

Fallacy of tech adoption

It’s been about 227 years since 1797, and yet, that scene could have taken place yesterday. Margins are razor-thin, and there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, right?

Artificial intelligence has been met with similar skepticism.

Concerns about data security abound, and giving up control is disconcerting to say the least. It’s unnerving to be an early adopter. Even so, AI represents a monumental ag tech breakthrough, and it will eventually revolutionize the industry, just as Newbold’s plow did.

“I think the industry is a little bit myopic when they consider AI. Everyone is looking at the tractor, and how to make the tractor into a bot,” says Craig Rupp, founder of Sabanto, an agricultural technology company that’s invented an autonomous retrofit kit for tractors. “It’s the innovator's dilemma: They’re focused 100% on how to make the next biggest tractor. I think AI will be used as a tool to optimize the farming operation.”

Some AI technology is already on the market and can help farmers streamline efficiencies from the office. But a generational gap exists. Age is the most significant hurdle standing in the way of adoption, Rupp says.

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“The most successful agricultural companies are going to find a way to leverage the next generation, one that has never lived without text messaging, the internet and smartphones. It’s their world, and we need to adapt to them,” he says.

It’s happening, but slowly. As a whole, the ag tech industry is helping farmers adopt emerging technology like AI. In 2025, Rupp expects that adoption to gain momentum.

With the new year, an era of agricultural innovation is dawning on American agriculture. Today, just as in 1797, the air is alive with renewal.