Food is an essential element for life on earth but with the rapidly growing population, the resources are running out quite fast. In order to produce enough food to feed the population that is expected to grow to 10 billion by 2050, drastic measures need to be taken.
By making smart decisions and implementing them each step of the way, it’s possible to manage large scale operations efficiently and thus overcome the deficit.
AI to the Rescue
Old school farming is a thing of the past and with the invention of newer technologies, the future of agriculture looks bright. The need to modernize the processes and hence reap greater benefits is increasing with each passing day but it’s the introduction of artificial intelligence in the process that has really set the wheels moving.
The industry has started using the technology in newer and better ways in order to optimize the results of each harvest. By including artificial intelligence in each step of food cultivation process, it’s possible to feed the growing population efficiently. AI has quickly become a part of the solution and has already taken deep roots in the industry.
Sowing Seeds
People unfamiliar with the agriculture industry might not understand the importance of this step but experts do and that’s the reason AI has been included to optimize this process. By combining artificial intelligence and agricultural big data, industry experts have brought revolution to the process by introducing the variable rate planting equipment. It takes into account a number of predictors to decide where the seeds will grow best and what environmental conditions they will require to produce the best results.
Pest Control
The biggest threat to the industry, after natural calamities is pests and the outbreak of disease. The new high tech ways that farmers are adopting to protect their plants have shown great results and have enabled them to stop living in the fear. The main focus of precision agriculture has been to eliminate such threats and allow agriculture to prosper. With the help of the See and Spray model, plant management is focused and based on large scale farming. It enables the farmers to see every plant and then act on it. With the help of computer vision, it is possible to keep an eye on every plant and protect it from any threat.
Harvesting
From the apple you eat in the morning to the tea leaves you use for brewing your evening tea, all crops need to be picked and harvested to provide to the general public. The man hours it takes and the manual labor it requires is a huge investment in terms of time and efforts. But with the industry experts working on producing robotic harvesting equipment, the days of such manual labor are about to be extinct.
Artificial intelligence is a resource needed by the industry for long term sustainability and smart farming. As long as the technology is put to such use, there’s hope that the expected food crisis can be successfully evaded.