Liability

Malfunctioning machines is a big concern for this type of technology. There will need to be protections in place to ensure the safety of third parties (humans, plants, animals). There also need to be considerations over who is responsibility in this kind of situation (farmer, manufacturer of the technology, etc.). Insurance will need to extend to these kind of incidents.

Moreover, Insurance policies may need to be enhanced and developed to protect in the event of hacking. This should cover both the hacking of the machinery itself and the data sets that are produced from the technology.

It may also be necessary to ensure that responsibility is checked for environmental damage, but flexibility should also be considered if something goes wrong. The farmer should have the chance to set things right where possible.

Drones are permitted under certain conditions to carry chemicals for agricultural treatment. These rules might benefit from refinement and should be publicised to farmers. Furthermore, PA is more efficient and uses less chemicals, which ultimately reduced the health and environmental risks.

Certain more complex machinery should be accompanied by licencing to ensure that the farmer can use it safely.