The continuous growth of the human population put significant pressure on the agriculture sector to maximize crop production and increase yields. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI) integration in agriculture can transform the food storage system and address the food wastage crisis. AI can help farmers analyze data from various sources, so they can make data-driven decisions, optimize resource usage, and minimize environmental impact.
Traditional farming has come a long way since horse-drawn machinery or hand plow. Every season brings new technologies that tend to enhance the efficiency of the harvest. However, both farmers and agribusiness often miss out on those opportunities that AI can bring to agricultural practices.
India, a country with one of the leading Agtech startups, inflating 15 datasets like crop production, soil health records, weather conditions, pest images, and land records. According to research conducted by McKinsey and NASSCOM, the opportunity could lead to a $65 billion market.
Use of AI in Agriculture
Until now, using words like agriculture and AI in the same phrase may seem like an unusual combination. However, in recent years the world has seen advancement in the agriculture industry, transforming farmers' practices. There are several approaches to utilize AI to improve efficiency and productivity in agrochemicals. Introducing AI in agrochemicals solves various challenges of traditional farming.
Soil and crop health monitoring
The incorrect mixture of nutrients in the soil can affect the health of crops leading to a slow growth rate. Identifying the right nutrient and their effect on crop yield with AI lets farmers make the necessary adjustments.
While human observations are finite in accuracy, computer vision models can measure soil health with accurate data required to resist crop diseases. This data is then used to determine crop health and predict yield while labeling any particular infection.
One example is Nutrient Scanner, AI-powered software built by Agrocares, a Dutch agritech startup. It collects data from soil and suggests farmers with accurate amounts of missing nutrients needed for better crop growth. This lets farmers adjust their fertilizer application and irrigation methods for desirable crop growth and diminish environmental effects.
Plant disease detection
With AI drive systems, farmers can detect plant diseases caused by insects or pests more quickly. For instance, an AI system can detect infection of aphids on tomato crops and send the data to the farmer's phone with suggested action to be taken next. Also, If a pesticide is required, the AI system can even automate it through an attached sprayer.
In combination with alert systems, this helps farmers take quick action to isolate crops and prevent the spread of disease from pests. The Agrochemical industry is using AI technologies to detect apple black rot with an accuracy of more than 90%. It can detect insects like moths, flies, bees, etc. matching the same accuracy.
Effective pesticide application
Farmers know well that the dose and application of pesticides are crucial factors for better crop growth. Both manual and automatic pesticide application processes have limitations. While applying pesticides manually offers increased precision within targeted areas, though it is a difficult and slow process. Automatic pesticide spraying is faster and less work-intensive, but often misses the accuracy leading to an infected environment.
Blue River Technology, introduced their flagship product called the "See and Spray" machine. The device uses computer vision and machine learning to distinguish between weeds and crops and then apply herbicide where needed.
Chatbots for farmers
An AI-powered chatbot can be used as an interface between farmers and their consumers or distributors. Farmers can leverage these conversational assistants to answer product-related questions or services offered, order supplies, and check SKU levels. Farmers can get all information related to crops, pesticide applications, doses, and suitable products to prevent plants from pests.
Chatbots are also helpful for managing a database of information on various crops and soil conditions. They act as virtual farm assistants to execute several farm tasks. Chatbots like Salevant.ai and FarmVibes by Microsoft provide personalized recommendations to farmers based on data.
These chatbots use natural language processing (NLP) to understand farmer's queries and give real-time insights from the database about SKUs, and other agricultural information.
Observing crop growth
Measuring crop health and maturity is a challenging task for farmers, but AI makes this job easier with precision. Farmers can detect crop changes using AI-driven hardware like sensors or image recognition tools to obtain accurate predictions about when crops will reach desirable maturity. Several studies revealed that predicting crop maturity using AI resulted in a higher accuracy rate than the accuracy rate achieved with human observations. This accuracy can bring high profits and significant cost-savings for farmers.
Crops protection
AI can monitor various states of plants to pot potential diseases, identify, and even recommend treatment of pests. AgTech startup Tarasin uses machine learning and computer vision to capture high-resolution crop images, displaying plant insights to identify any disease. These AI-based technologies can detect and distinguish diseases and pests with unmatched accuracy. It even recommends the most effective pest treatment, minimizing the need for a broad spectrum of insecticides that tend to harm pests beneficial for crops.
Automating irrigation system
Artificial Intelligence enables autonomous crop management. Combined with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors that measure soil moisture levels and weather conditions, it can detect how much water is needed for crops. An autonomous crop irrigation system is designed to preserve water while fostering sustainable agriculture practices. AI in greenhouses adjusts temperature, light level, and humidity based on real-time data to optimize plant growth.
Supervise livestock health
Monitoring the health of livestock is a challenging task. However, with AI, farmers can deal with this problem. The solution uses AI and ML to determine the effect of diet along with environmental changes on livestock. This insight can help farmers better the well-being of cattle for improved milk production.
A company called CattleEye introduced a solution that uses drones and cameras with computer vision to supervise cattle health. It detects cattle behavior and activities like birthing.
The Future of AI in Agriculture
Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture is set to grow immensely in the upcoming years with its potential to transform the sector by enhancing crop yield, reducing wastes, and optimizing plant growth. According to a MarketsandMarkets report, AI in the agriculture industry is predicted to witness immense growth, with an increase in market size from $2.35 billion to $10.83 billion by 2025.
Farmers can find several benefits of AI such as monitoring soil conditions, crop maturity, and weather changes. As a result, farmers will be able to spot the disease early and take necessary measures. AI will also aid in weather change forecasting, allowing farmers to plan their tasks and take advantage of planting season.
Furthermore, AI can help farmers optimize resource usage and reduce waste. Farmers can use AI to determine the right amount of fertilizer or water needed for crops, leading to smart farming. These practices will reduce the risk of water and soil contamination.
However, farmers can't just buy an AI and start using it from day one. AI works the same way people think - it first learns and then resolves a problem based on given data. So farmers need to be trained on how to optimize the use of AI-driven solutions. To leverage, all the benefits of AI, farmers first need a technical infrastructure. It might take years that's why collaborating with a technical team is an excellent first step. Each one collectively considers how they can enhance their tools, address real problems, and take benefits of AI. If this is possible, the AI in agriculture industry is going to be fruitful.
Our Words
We at Salevant.ai believe every farmer should be introduced to modern farming practices and create a valuable impact on the agricultural market. We are happy to be a part of an evolving environment that majorly focuses on educating farmers with AI tools.
Salevant.ai is an AI-powered tool that helps farmers and their customers or distributors access products, crops, diseases, and treatment knowledge on WhatsApp with vernacular support. With this tool, farmers can simply type or even send a voice note of a query on WhatsApp and get an instant solution. In this way, organizations can disseminate all necessary information whether it is product knowledge, or treatment knowledge to their associated farmers, sales team, and the last mile individual.
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