| | | | | | | Presented By OurCrowd | | | | Axios What's Next | | By Jennifer A. Kingson, Joann Muller, Erica Pandey and Bryan Walsh ·Aug 12, 2021 | | More photo contest madness! You guys are capturing the spirit of "What's Next" with the pictures you're sending us — and we're grateful. - This week, we've been asking you for pix you've taken that encapsulate something about the future of cities, transportation, the workplace and our lifestyles.
- JPEGs are preferred — no videos or moving images, please, our publishing system gets ornery about them.
- Today's selections are at the bottom of the newsletter. Feel inspired? Write to us at whatsnext@axios.com.
Today's Smart Brevity count: 968 words ... 3.5 minutes. | | | | | | 1 big thing: The new farmhands? Robots. |  | | | A Deere tractor outfitted with Bear Flag Robotics' autonomous driving technology. Credit: Deere | | | | Artificial intelligence and automation are the new farmhands as growers try to boost productivity amid soaring global demand for food, biofuels and other agricultural products, Joann Muller reports. Why it matters: Farmers one day will be able to manage their fields from their kitchen table, using a smartphone or tablet to drive machinery, inspect plants and irrigate or treat crops with fertilizer or insecticides. Driving the news: Agriculture machinery giant Deere & Company last week acquired Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million. - The 4-year-old Silicon Valley-based startup develops autonomous driving technology that can be retrofitted on existing machines.
- It's the latest step in Deere's long-term effort to automate farming.
The big picture: With the United Nations predicting the world population will grow to 9.7 billion people by 2050, the agriculture industry says it will need to double the amount of food, feed, fiber and bioenergy it produces. - To boost output, the industry can either farm more land — putting more pressure on the environment — or farm the land it has more productively.
Yes, but: There aren't enough farmworkers. Agriculture jobs are projected to grow just 1% from 2019 to 2029, slower than other occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. - Many farmers are turning to technology to fill the skilled labor gap.
Keep reading |     | | | | | | 2. New COVID restrictions could slow air travel |  | | | Memorial Day weekend at LAX — the first holiday since travel restrictions were relaxed. Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images | | | | Leisure air travel is booming, but with COVID-19 cases soaring in the U.S., the airline industry can expect a slowdown after Labor Day — and that might actually be a good thing, Joann writes. Why it matters: Airlines have struggled to keep up with the unexpectedly strong rebound in travel demand this summer, with Spirit Airlines' chaotic, cancellation-filled episode last week as the most extreme example. - "The industry needs a little time to breathe," says Brian Kelly, CEO of The Points Guy, a travel advisory website. "In all my years, I've never seen an airline completely melt down like Spirit Airlines."
Driving the news: Southwest Airlines warned Wednesday that it may not be profitable in the third quarter due to the impact of the Delta variant. - "The Company has recently experienced a deceleration in close-in bookings and an increase in close-in trip cancellations in August 2021, which are believed to be driven by the recent rise in COVID-19 cases associated with the Delta variant," Southwest said in an SEC filing.
Where it stands: About 2 million people per day are passing through TSA airport security checkpoints this summer, about 21% below 2019 levels, says Airlines for America. - Domestic air travel is down about 13%, while international travel is down 39%. Business travel remains far below normal levels but had been expected to start picking up in the fall after children return to school.
Yes, but: Amid a new surge in coronavirus cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is rapidly adding countries to its "Do Not Travel" list because of their "very high risk" of infection. - New travel warnings were issued this week for France, Iceland, Aruba, Israel and Thailand, among others.
Keep reading | | | | | | | | 3. We are shopping again ... for now |  Data: Zenreach Media; Chart: Will Chase/Axios Foot traffic at retail stores, restaurants and entertainment places is up 52% since the start of 2021 — though it tapered during the month of July, probably because of the Delta variant, according to Zenreach, a marketing firm that measures foot traffic, writes Jennifer A. Kingson. Why it matters: The return of customers to brick-and-mortar stores has been a godsend to Covid-battered merchants, but threatens to wane. - "As mask mandates and restrictions are reinstated, we are expecting to see foot traffic slow across the board," says Megan Wintersteen of Zenreach.
| | | | | | | | A message from OurCrowd | | Beyond Meat investor opens new food-tech investment opportunity | | |  | | | | OurCrowd is creating access to pre-IPO opportunities like food-tech company Ripple Foods. The idea: Going beyond dairy, Ripple utilizes its groundbreaking technology to make plant-based milks that are great tasting, high in protein — as high as dairy milk — and much lower in sugar. Find out more. | | | | | | 4. What we're reading |  | | | Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images | | | | Will gyms go the way of arcades and movie rental stores? (AP) Between coronavirus and the growth of Peloton (etc.), "thousands of small fitness centers and studios that were forced to close a year ago now are gone for good. Others are struggling to stay afloat and have redesigned their spaces, turned toward more personal workouts and added online training." What are stores even thinking with all these emails? (The Atlantic) After his patronage of Bonobos led to a whopping nine emails from the clothing retailer in a single week, Ian Bogost writes, "How is it possible that customers would find this appealing? COVID-19 threatens to blow up law firms' intense office culture — for good (WSJ) Young lawyers have long been expected to put in massive amounts of time in the office or risk veering from the partnership track. Now come associates who enjoy working from home and — gasp — don't want to sit in business attire in a formal setting all day. | | | | | | | | 5. Stop, thief! A modern revenge tale |  | | | Screenshot of Dan Guido's tweet. | | | | Dan Guido tweeted this compelling tale of how his e-bike was stolen in Brooklyn and how he recovered it using two Apple AirTags he had surreptitiously attached to the scooter, Jennifer writes. What happened: Guido — who happens to be the CEO of a cybersecurity research and consulting firm, Trail of Bits — said he had a hard time convincing the cops that he wasn't trying to scam them. - They had never heard of AirTags, which you can put on a keychain or in a backpack and track down using the "Find My" app.
- But when they took Guido out in the squad car and let him guide them to where the app was pointing, they found his scooter in a "used" e-bike store.
| | | | | | | | Reader photos: |  | | | Outdoor dining in Kilkenny, Ireland. Photo: Kathleen Mulcahy | | | | What's Next: Outdoor dining structures go upscale. Kathleen Mulcahy writes: Even post-pandemic this looks like a great idea for outdoor dining in rainy, cool climates like Ireland — they are fiberglass translucent arches, which presumably could be curtained to keep more warmth in if needed. Photo: Alex Kean What's Next: Autonomous airport cleaners Alex Kean writes: "This is in Cincinnati's airport! I was surprised to find this guy driving himself around in my Ohio hometown, vs. the manual cleaners in my origin flight from the tech hub of San Francisco." | | | | | | | | A message from OurCrowd | | OurCrowd creates pre-IPO investment opportunities for individuals | | |  | | | | OurCrowd brings accredited investors world-changing pre-IPO opportunities – like Silicon Valley food-tech startup, Ripple Foods. The product: Ripple's great tasting, high protein, low sugar, plant-based milk products are currently being bought by customers in over 15,000 stores. Find out more. | | | | Thanks for reading! Please send all your unvarnished thoughts to us at whatsnext@axios.com, and ask your friends to subscribe here. |  | | It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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