Agriculture during AI: Revolution towards sustainable goals

By introducing new farming practices, AI is transforming agriculture towards social benefits globally.

Artificial intelligence or AI has long been no longer an idea on paper. We have seen many applications of AI in life, beyond the walls of the lab.

Across fields and greenhouses, farmers are using AI to significantly reduce chemical use and minimize environmental damage. Advances in AI control robots are also helping farmers in increasing production using less land and less labor.

Farmers are using AI to significantly reduce chemical use and minimize environmental damage.

What are the results? A cleaner environment, safer food sources and more yields. Researchers are even collecting data on forests and wildlife conservation, thereby finding a more sustainable management solution.

These are just a few examples of how we can use AI to restore the Earth's balance.

NatureFresh Farms: Increases productivity and quality of food

At NatureFress Farms greenhouses in Ohio and Ontario, workers do not need to go around the farm to inspect the plants. Instead, robotic cameras collect images of plants, put data into AI algorithms to accurately calculate maturity

NatureFresh analyzes crop information on a large scale to produce accurate harvest and yield forecasts.

Sensors measure the temperature of each plant as well as the amount of water and fertilizer it absorbs. On that basis, technicians adjust parameters by phone application. Previously, they needed an hour to record the change. This number is now shortened to only 5 minutes.

NatureFresh analyzes crop information on a large scale to produce accurate harvest and yield forecasts. Producers can use these indicators to calculate how to adjust temperature, water or fertilizer to increase productivity.

But AI can do more than that. For safety, NatureFresh uses AI to tag each vegetable with a 32-character barcode that indicates where to grow, pick and place. That way, if a problem occurs, managers can quickly identify causes and actions to reduce the risk of disease.

Blue River Technology: Reduce herbicide flow

Besides greenhouses, AI can also help manage field crops. Blue River Technology, a leading company in agricultural intelligence, has produced components that can be mounted on tractors and use AI to 'track' plants.

The algorithms will detect and identify weeds alternating between growing areas. Then, for each unwanted crop, the machine will spray out an essential amount of herbicides or fungicides as well as adding appropriate fertilizer for each crop. This system allows farmers to avoid having to spray pesticides on a large scale.

Blue River said its technology could reduce herbicide use by 90%, allowing farmers to produce more food and eliminate a cause of environmental pollution.

Robot Farm: The future of agriculture

The applications that NatureFresh Farms and Blue River put into operation represent the beginning of the agricultural revolution AI. Agrobot, Harvest Croo Robotics and other companies have been developing automated harvesters that use AI to determine ripeness and crop selection in real time, saving labor time and ensuring food faster rotation.

Farmers are also using robots, sensors and unmanned aircraft to assess crop conditions. It is expected that by 2020, producers will use 75 million devices, and by 2050, farms will generate an average of 4.1 billion data for AI.

Automation helps farmers solve labor shortages. As people increasingly move to cities, the agricultural labor force will gradually decline. According to the World Bank report, the number of agricultural workers has decreased from 43% of the world population in 1991 to below 26% today.

Farmers are also using robots, sensors and unmanned aircraft to assess crop conditions.

Researchers predict that the world will need between 25% and 70% more food to meet demand by 2050. As demand rises, labor and land shortages will become alarming. Farmers will have no choice but to do more with limited resources. AI and robots will give them the tools to do that.

Benefits for each individual

Small producers can also benefit from artificial intelligence in agriculture. It is very important because they run more than 90% of farms worldwide, accounting for about 80% of global food.

Today, farmers can use phone applications such as PlantVillage or Farmwave, to post weeds, stink bugs or plants on a platform where AI algorithms will diagnose problems and give advice. .

SilviaTerra: Promoting sustainable development

As urbanization spreads, we need to manage our land well. That can be done not only by farming more efficiently and using less chemicals, but also by preserving common areas to provide enough oxygen to the community.

Project SilviaTerra, one of Microsoft's AI projects, combines satellite imagery with US Forest Service information to create detailed, high-resolution forest maps that help researchers identify impacts of climate change and development of better soil management measures.

Reduce crop waste, improve food safety, reduce chemicals in the environment and develop sustainable resources - these are important goals for farmers in particular and the society as a whole. Big problems need big solutions, but AI is one of them. By introducing new farming practices, AI is transforming agriculture towards social benefits globally.