When most people think of artificial intelligence (AI), industries such as e-commerce, banking and finance come to mind. Yet, the application of AI is so much wider and spans across various sectors, including agriculture.
How Can AI Be Used in Agriculture?
The use of artificial intelligence in farming on a global scale is very promising. It can help minimise the risks and increase the quantity and quality of products with fewer resources.
Helps in Decision Making
Predictive analytics can really make a difference. AI can help farmers collect and process a large amount of data much faster than they could otherwise. It’s not easy to analyse market demand, forecast prices, or determine the best time to harvest and predict crop yield, but AI can solve these challenges.
In addition to this, farmers can use AI to gather insights on soil health, obtain fertiliser recommendations, monitor the weather, and track the readiness of produce. Based on all those parameters, they can make better decisions at every stage of the crop cultivation process.
Saving Costs
Precision agriculture is a specific farm management approach which helps farmers grow more crops with fewer resources. AI-powered precision agriculture could be the future of farming. Precision farming allows farmers to maximise yields and minimise spending by combining the best soil management practices, variable rate technology, and the most effective data management.
With AI, farmers can gain real-time insight from their fields and use it to identify areas that need irrigation, fertilisation, or pesticide treatment. Furthermore, innovations such as vertical farming can increase food production whilst using minimal resources. As a result, there is the reduced use of herbicides, better harvest quality, higher profits and significant cost savings.
Addresses Labour Shortages
Hard physical work in the agriculture sector often results in labour shortages. Automation can help farmers deal with this problem. To reduce manual labour, the work can be done by using features such as driverless tractors, smart irrigation and fertilising systems, smart spraying, vertical farming software, or AI-based robots. These AI-driven tools are more accurate and faster.
The Challenges of AI in Agriculture
Given all the advantages of using artificial intelligence in agriculture, it would be wise to implement this technology, however, there are some issues to consider.
Long and Gradual Process of Adopting Technology
AI relies on simpler technologies to gather, process, and monitor field data. Proper technology infrastructure is needed for artificial intelligence to work its magic. If your farm doesn’t already have some technology, you won’t be able to get the most out of AI.
Software companies should also gradually introduce farmers to AI. Simpler technology, such as an agriculture trading platform should come first. After farmers implement a simple solution first, they can step it up and move on to more complex AI features.
Lack of Experience With the Latest Technologies
AI technology might be hard to implement in some developing countries. Farmers might resist because they lack an understanding of practical AI applications. In areas where agricultural technology is not common, farmers will most likely need help adopting artificial intelligence tools.
Therefore, in emerging agricultural economies, tech companies might need to work proactively. Before selling their products, they should provide training and ongoing support for farmers and agribusiness owners who are willing to adopt innovative solutions.
Privacy and Security Issues
Various legal issues can arise from the situation such as the use of AI in agriculture, where no clear policies and regulations exist. Farmers may have serious problems due to privacy and security threats like cyberattacks and data leaks. Unfortunately, many farms are vulnerable to these threats.
AgroVerse
ITnnov‘s AgroVerse concept offers a new AI-driven farm management system. We provide a centralised app that will allow farmers to register their farms and populate information about their agro products as well as about current production conditions.
This app allows any person to be a distributor and start making great returns by selling the listed agro products to their social network.
To find out more, feel free to contact us at info@itnnov.com.
Takeaway
Agriculture is a high-risk industry. Farmers are constantly at the mercy of the weather and crop diseases. Other unpredictable circumstances, such as global pandemics or wars can also affect the yields.
However, there is constant pressure to increase production to meet the demand of the growing population. With a limited amount of fertile soil, farmers must look for a solution beyond traditional farming.
AI could be the way to a brighter future for agriculture. It can maximise the output of the land with less effort and bring many other tangible benefits that would make farmers’ lives easier.
Artificial intelligence must be a logical next step to upgrade the existing technologies. It cannot work independently.
For more interesting topics, read ITnnov blog.
Sources:
https://www.v7labs.com/blog/ai-in-agriculture
https://intellias.com/artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture/