National Startup Day 2024: 5 interesting AI applications for farming and agriculture

The deployment of AI technology can lessen the impact on natural ecosystems and boost worker safety, keeping food prices low and ensuring that food production keeps up with the growing population. (Photo via Pexels)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations projects that by 2050 the global population will have surpassed 9 billion. Agriculture is the foundation of any economy's long-term viability. It is essential for long-term economic growth and structural transformation, albeit varies by country.

Previously, agricultural operations were restricted to food and crop production. However, in the last two decades, it has evolved to include crop and livestock processing, production, marketing, and distribution.

AI systems will be able to provide predictive insights into which crop to plant in a given year and when the optimal dates to sow and harvest are in a specific area by analysing soil management data sources such as temperature, weather, soil analysis, moisture, and historic crop performance, thus improving crop yields and decreasing the use of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. The deployment of AI technology can lessen the impact on natural ecosystems and boost worker safety, keeping food prices low and ensuring that food production keeps up with the growing population.

Soil management is an essential component of agricultural operations. A thorough understanding of diverse soil types and conditions will increase crop output while conserving soil resources. It refers to applying procedures, methods, and treatments to improve soil performance. Pollutants in urban soils can be examined using a typical soil survey approach.

Crop management begins with planting and continues with crop distribution and storage, harvesting, and growth monitoring. It can be summed up as the endeavours to enhance the productivity and expansion of agricultural products. Crop yield will undoubtedly rise with a thorough comprehension of the class of crops and their timing and type of thriving soil.

Disease control is required for agricultural harvests to achieve an ideal yield. Diseases of plants and animals are a significant factor preventing crop growth. These diseases, which affect both plants and animals, are influenced by several variables, including genetics, soil type, rain, dry weather, wind, temperature, and others. These variables and the nature of the causal influences of some illnesses make effective management difficult, particularly in large-scale farming.

Farm planning and mapping applications are another popular digital product in agriculture. They let farmers monitor and evaluate the development of plants, the health and mobility of animals, and the state of the field, and even anticipate and stop adverse reactions.

Let us explore some of the AI apps in agriculture.

The most widely used app for remotely managing your field operations and equipment was once known as John Deere MyOperations. Its primary purpose is to estimate and provide insight into your actual and predicted performance. However, the program has several intriguing features, like AutoSetup, a tool that makes planning all significant tasks — soil tillage, sowing, spraying, fertilising, and harvesting — easy. It can save up to 90 per cent of the time needed for field setup.

This application connects producers with advisors who provide remote support and troubleshoot farm-related issues. Real-time video enables farmers to communicate with various supporters from multiple corporations and increases their visibility. John Deere's RDA is utilized by the application to allow its displays.

This application assists farmers in monitoring critical conditions. It disseminates maps that provide information on current and historical soil temperatures, highs, and lows. Farmers possess comprehensive data to identify potential crop threats and proactively implement protective measures in unfavourable circumstances. The app offers five primary options, including the seven-day average soil temperature and the highest temperature recorded yesterday.

It is a trading application for agriculture. It facilitates trade between growers and merchants. The primary objective is to establish an international network of buyers and vendors of farming products. The application is available to anyone who trades plant products or livestock to locate business associates or clients.

This application enables producers to acquire more comprehensive farming knowledge and resolve agricultural challenges. The product furnishes pertinent allied services and information about crop protection, intelligent agriculture, and agricultural production. It also provides a marketplace, video-based learning, chat with industry professionals, and the most recent farming news, among other resources.

The agricultural production system is paradigm-shifting due to erratic climate changes, growing market demands, diminishing farmland, and rapid population expansion. The novel agricultural system must enhance its productivity, operational efficiency, resilience to climate change, and sustainability for posterity. AI exhibits the potential to mitigate the obstacles associated with this emerging paradigm.

AI promises profound change through cutting-edge methods that reshape agriculture's conventional patterns and boundaries. Furthermore, AI will spearhead an agricultural revolution when global food production needs to increase while using fewer resources.