Don’t Be the Farmer Who Didn’t Buy the Tractor

A big green tractor taking care of business, doing a lot of heavy lifting, leaving neighboring farmers awe inspired.

There’s this old saying: don’t be the farmer who didn’t buy the tractor.

Think about it. The first tractors looked ridiculous to the neighbors. Loud, clunky, and way too expensive compared to a couple of strong horses. But here’s the thing, the farmers who bought in? They pulled more, planted more, and harvested more. They didn’t just keep up. They pulled ahead.

That’s kind of how AI feels right now.

It can’t do everything. It’s not replacing people outright (despite the headlines). But it is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Drafting, analyzing, spotting patterns, clearing noise, the grunt work that bogs teams down.

The danger is getting stuck in spectator mode. Watching your “neighbor’s tractor” in action, half-curious, half-skeptical. “Do I really need one of those? Maybe I’ll wait until it’s safer, cheaper, more proven.”

But by then, the neighbor’s already doubled (10x!) their output.

The leaders I talk to aren’t scared of AI. They’re scared of missing the moment. Because it’s not about replacing humans. It’s about freeing them to think, create, and lead.

Of course, that brings up the hard stuff. Are we building trust with these tools, or eroding it? Are we using them to make work clearer, or just adding more noise? Those are the conversations managers have to lead if they want their teams to adapt these tools with confidence instead of fear.

History tells us the tractor was a good bet. I think AI might be too ;)

And if you want a glimpse at how wild this can get? Look at Carbon Robotics a company building AI-powered robots that weed massive fields using lasers. Literal laser farming. Tell me that’s not a glimpse of the future barreling straight at us!!

The question is, are you gonna be the farmer who shrugs it off… or the one who hops on early and learns to drive?

”Take me for a ride on your big green tractor”