AI and agrarian culture
Already, agriculturalists are turning to AI technologies to grow healthier crops, control pests, control soil, and growing conditions, systematize data, distribute the workload and improve a wide range of farming tasks.
Let’s look at a few areas of AI development that are incredibly useful for agriculture:
- Weather forecasts. The climate on the planet is constantly changing nowadays, making it difficult for farmers to calculate the best time to sow seeds. AI helps analyze weather conditions, a plan which crop will produce the best yield this year, and calculate the best time to plant.
- Soil condition monitoring. Soil type, as well as soil nutrition, is an important criterion for successful farming, which affects yields and the quality of the crops grown. The new AI-powered Plantix app from the German technology start-up helps identify soil nutrient deficiencies, pests, and plant diseases, which can also inform farmers about the need to apply certain fertilizers and other substances to improve crop quality. The app works by using image-recognition technology: the farmer only needs to take a picture on his smartphone. The app also offers soil rehabilitation methods and other tips for increasing yields.
- Crop condition analysis using drones. SlySqurrel Technologies has introduced Ariel, an innovative solution for farmers. The drones collect data from the fields, transmit it to a computer for further analysis. This helps in the timely detection of pests and bacteria for quick control.
- Precision farming and predictive analytics. Innovative AI applications in agriculture help farmers engage in more precise and controllable activities by providing them with relevant instructions on field water management, crop rotation, timely harvesting, crop specifics, optimal planting, etc. This necessarily takes into account data on temperature, rainfall, wind speed, solar radiation, etc.
In the future, AI will help farmers become agricultural technologists by using data to optimize yields based on specific plant species. This will increase yields while using fewer resources.