AGRICULTURE

How To Use AI In Agriculture

The world’s current population is around 8 billion and the pace is still not slowing down. According to estimates of UNO, the world population is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050. This means that the agriculture sector needs to increase production by many folds to support such a large number of people. To make sure that these demands are met, the agriculture sector needs to become increasingly technology endorsing and efficient. Such a trend is already being seen as agriculture is adopting AI and ML in various forms and places. The next revolution in agriculture is set to come from cognitive computing since it can be helpful in assisting farmers in different situations both in-field as well as in produce handling. Furthermore, services like chatbots can assist farmers in keeping up with the upcoming technology. Such services are being provided by software giants like Microsoft and it has resulted in a huge increase in the crop yield per hectare. Let’s now look at the few ways in which AI is already being used by farmers and how you can incorporate it into your own farming techniques.

AI For Sowing Seeds

The AI revolution in farming starts at the very beginning. Sowing seeds is more than spreading seeds in dirt and hoping that it will germinate into a plant. Farmers and agriculture experts know that distance between plants is very important to make sure that each plant gets the appropriate amount of nutrients and has a healthy growth rate. Special sowing equipment – variable rate planting equipment – is already being used in fields. The equipment uses AI to predict the optimum spacing between the sowed seeds as well as determine the probability of healthy plant based on the type of soil it is sowing. The overlapping, missing, crowding etc. of seeds is avoided and the efficiency of growth is increased this way.

Taking Care Of Plants

It is extremely important to keep track of plant growth and make sure that it is free of pests, diseases etc. Insect and other pathogen epidemics are causing huge losses of produce every year. Furthermore, the pesticides and insecticides that are used to kill such insects and weeds are extremely hazardous to humans as well toxic to wildlife. AI with the help of image recognition technology is helping farmers in detecting diseases at the earliest stages as well identify if any pests are present. Such timely detection ensures that limited resources are needed to be deployed to take care of such problems. This is not only economical for the farmer but also protects the environment.

The Scope Of Drones In Future Farming Techniques

Drones are an important tool when it comes to field management. They are predicted to cut the workload of farmers by a large degree since they can easily take care of the problems that are otherwise cumbersome to tackle with. Drones equipped with high definition cameras can be used to produce 3D field maps along with drainage system, elevation level of fields and soil parameters. Such maps can then be used to spray the field with the help of other drones. Plant growth determinants such as average plant height, plant density etc. can be easily calculated and necessary steps can be taken to avoid any problems.

Predicting Rotation Cycles, And Growth Season

AI can be used to predict the growth of crops over the course of a few months before the seeds are even sown. This can be done by analyzing the meteorological data. The data of past years can be fed to ML algorithms and the algorithm can be trained to predict the growth outcome. Such algorithms are already being utilized to simulate the nitrogen content of soil in pastures. Furthermore, the agronomic data can be used to determine crop rotation and crop types that will be suitable in a particular growing season. This will not only make the cultivation process efficient but will also increase the profit.

Crop Harvesting Robots

Picking up fruits is one of the most difficult tasks in agriculture since it is not a systematic process. Every plant has a different harvesting time which makes the whole process span over many weeks. Furthermore, a large number of the produce is wasted due to improper plucking and handling. To take care of these problems, AI and ML powered harvesting robots are already being employed by farmers successfully. The robots are able to tell when the fruit is ripe and then pluck it from the plant with utmost precision. This is not only a reduction in the labor cost but also increases the overall profit by ensuring that more produce reaches the markets. The above-discussed applications are only the tip of the iceberg. AI and ML are bound to disrupt the field of agriculture and bring about the next green revolution. The applications are not only being done by the startups and the farmers, but big agro-industry giants are also investing heavily in the field – sometimes buying out successful startups. This provides a huge opportunity for public agriculture sector which can increase their profits by embracing the best farm helper they have gotten so far.