By 2025, the world population is projected to reach 9.8 billion, and the global food demand is expected to increase by 59-98%. Therefore, we can expect an augmented strain on the agricultural sector and traditional farming methods.
Fortunately, the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers some rays of hope for the agricultural industry.
Machine learning and the algorithms of artificial intelligence are steadily reforming the agricultural sector, enhancing efficiency, and revolutionizing work processes. This advanced technology helps farmers make data-driven decisions, manage resources, optimize crop yields, reduce labor and costs, and develop a more sustainable ecosystem.
According to the World Economic Forum, the integration of AI in agriculture can result in a 60% reduction in pesticide usage and a 50% decrease in water consumption.
Today, by harnessing AI for agriculture, farmers can unlock a new era of precision agriculture, where each stage of farming is planned, tracked, and well-managed to make more fruitful outputs. Additionally, they can mitigate the risks associated with climate, pests, or diseases at an early stage.
The following section will shed light on the role of AI in the future of innovative farming.
How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming Agriculture?
In the last few years, weβve witnessed a significant upgrade in agricultural technology and farming practices. This advancement is essential since global challenges, such as population growth, climate change, and scarcity of resources, can be a threat to the sustainability of the global food system.
Letβs delve deeper into how AI for agriculture helps farmers with precision farming.
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Making Decisions Based on Data
One of the most usable advantages of AI is collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data from various sources. AI for agriculture helps farmers make data-driven and more fruitful decisions.
Through analyzing the data, farmers can make practical decisions on crop cultivation, harvesting, utilizing resources, and controlling environmental impact.
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Impact of Automation
Automation eases agricultural activities, eliminating the need to hire additional workers. It transforms the load of human labor and draft animals into jobs that take less time to perform.
Automated farming machines, like IoT-powered agricultural drones, automatic tractors, vertical farming software, and smart spraying, irrigation, and fertilization systems, work fast and accurately.
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Automated Irrigation System
Automated irrigation systems are designed to reduce the unnecessary consumption of water and support sustainable agricultural practices.
These devices involve a network of sensors, which can monitor weather conditions and soil moisture levels. They automatically initiate irrigation when the sensors detect that the crops require water.
Watch this video to understand AI as the Future of Modern Smart Farming.
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Soil and Crops Monitoring
By analyzing the present chemical components, AI-powered devices can estimate the purity of the soil of a particular area. These devices can identify the nutrients the soil lacks. For instance, Nutrient Scanner is one of the most helpful products by AgroCares, a global Ag-Tech company.
This innovative device effortlessly scans and provides data on missing nutrients in soil, feed materials, and leaf tissues. It helps farmers balance their irrigation practices and fertilizer application to ensure healthy growth of crops and sustainable farming practices. Today, artificial intelligence is used to track the growth stages of wheat and the ripe stages of tomatoes.
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Detecting Pests and Other Issues
Besides detecting soil status and crop health, AI-powered systems can detect the presence of pests and other diseases on the crops. By scanning images using artificial intelligence, farmers can find insects, mold, rots, and other threats to crops.
These technologies alert farmers about potential damages and help address issues at early stages. Thereby, farmers can isolate crops or exterminate pests on time and prevent the disease from spreading. For example, if thereβs an infestation of aphids on a crop, AI-powered systems can detect and send this data to the farmerβs smartphone. Additionally, it suggests the necessary actions to prevent the issue.
AI-based computer vision models can identify insects, including flies, mosquitoes, bees, moths, etc. Besides, today, AI-based machine learning and deep learning algorithms can successfully spot apple leaf diseases.
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Smart Application of Pesticides
Applying pesticides both manually and automatically has some limitations. Manual applications of pesticides might maintain accuracy but take a lot of time. Automated pesticide applications take both less time and labor but might lack accuracy. Sometimes, automation might lead to environmental contamination.
Today, AI-powered agricultural drones are a significant approach to spraying pesticides in the fields. These smart gadgets determine the amount of pesticides needed to spray for each cultivation area by using computer vision. Also, they measure how much pesticides are required based on the crop type, soil status, and history of the land.
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Automatic Weeding and Harvesting
Computer vision can detect the shape, color, and size of leaves and crops and differentiate between weeds and cultivated plants.
Additionally, this technology can detect diseases or rot in harvested crops. It helps farmers quickly separate the cultivated produce into different categories and sell those at different prices.
AI for Agriculture in the Future
As our population continues to grow rapidly, a need for sustainable, efficient, and innovative agriculture solutions becomes more apparent.
One of the most significant advantages of AI for agriculture is the ease of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting large amounts of data in real time. This data serves as the foundation for making meaningful decisions, enabling farmers to make informed choices at every stage of the farming process.
Today, through the use of sensors, satellites, drones, and IoT devices, farmers can gather detailed information about soil health, moisture levels, temperature, crop growth, and more. In the future, we might witness AI being at the forefront of agriculture, promoting more sustainable farming practices, enhancing efficiency, and reducing challenges.