Farmers may soon have to get used to life behind the screen rather than in the field, as agriculture and artificial intelligence increasingly rely on robots.

The latest development comes in the form of Australia's first fully automated farm built at a cost of $20 million, according to a report in the Interesting Engineering website citing a report by ABC News.

The "Handsless Farm" project is under development by researchers at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia, in partnership with the Agility Collaborative Research Centre.

Once completed, the 1,900 hectares (19 square kilometres) farm will serve as a testament to the power of robotics and artificial intelligence in agriculture.

Among the technologies used: drones, robotic tractors, harvesters, sensors to measure carbon emissions, and other measures.

AI will also be used to inform automated management decisions.

Richard Norton, CEO of Food Agility, explained - in a press release - that hands-free farming was much closer than many people realize.

"Full automation is not a far-off concept, there are already mines in Pilbara that are fully automated," Norton explained. "It won't be many years before technology takes farmers out of the field and immerses them in the world of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence."

The fully automated farm is already running commercially, and future tests will power it at night while the farmers sleep.

Besides automation, other innovations are expected to revolutionize the way our societies produce food. Vertical farming in cities, for example, can free up rural areas that can be used for farming.

And while the robots taking our jobs are worrisome in many professions, near-term estimates by the World Economic Forum show that automation will create 97 million jobs, which is more than it will take.