Agricultural production is changing rapidly. The adoption of labour-saving technologies, from tractors in low-income countries to high-tech artificial intelligence (AI) solutions found mostly in high-income countries, is occurring in the context of a global agricultural transformation and evolving agrifood systems. Understanding the social implications of automation in agriculture requires viewing technology change on farms within the broader context of the agricultural transformation and agrifood systems, as well as changing economic incentives to develop and adopt labour-saving technologies. This study overviews the social implications of automation in agriculture, focusing on labour and employment. Based on the available literature, it finds that, contradictory to the beliefs that automation creates unemployment and depresses wages, automation can stimulate employment by allowing producers to expand production and by creating jobs at other nodes along agrifood systems (e.g. storage, processing, transport). The study furthers reviews the impacts of automation on employment, which will depend on the driving factors. If automation is driven by rising wages and labour scarcities, then it is unlikely to create unemployment; if forcibly promoted, for example through government subsidies, it could lead to rising unemployment and falling or stagnant wages. However, in both scenarios, the literature suggests that automation is likely to have positive indirect effects via job creation at other nodes in agrifood systems. Governments should take caution in creating market distortions that encourage automation of tasks with an ample workforce, particularly when skillsets of those workers are unlikely to transfer to other employment opportunities in agrifood systems. For example, public investment in automating harvesting – despite an abundance of harvesters – may be problematic because the skillsets of harvesters likely differ from the skills required by newly-created jobs from automation. Government policy should therefore focus on fostering innovation, improving human capital, and building the capacities of agricultural producers, particularly youth, so that they can navigate automation technologies and access higher-skilled jobs. Investing in infrastructure (e.g. internet connectivity) is also a key enabler to adoption.