Implementation of AI in Agriculture

Farming has been re-defined by technology over the last few years. Today, technological advances have influenced the agricultural industry in many ways. Agriculture is one of the mainstay occupations in most global countries, and as the population surges and the pressure on land increases, there will be 60% more requirements for food production. 

Now, this is where AI and ML play their role. AI in agriculture is now showing the potential for meeting the food requirements for an additional 2 billion people globally by 2050. 

With such goals in mind, farming techniques are now revolutionized, with Agri scientists figuring out the best ways to introduce artificial intelligence into agriculture. 

AI-based technology in agriculture helps in growing healthier crops, controlling pests, observing the growing conditions, monitoring the soil, organizing data for farmers, and helping them with multiple tasks. 

What do Stats Say About the Impact of AI in Agriculture?

The role of AI in agriculture is immense. It has facilitated the most complex and routine tasks and made farming way easier than it was decades ago. Let’s see what stats say about the impact of artificial intelligence in agriculture and how AI is used in agriculture.

• The global spending on connected and smart agriculture, including machine learning and AI, is anticipated to triple in revenue by the end of 2025, reaching a valuation of $15.3 billion. 
• AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture enable IoT-enabled Agricultural (IoTAg) monitoring, which is projected to reach a valuation of $4.5 billion by 2025. 
• Spending on AI solutions and technologies, particularly in the agriculture industry, is estimated to grow from $1 billion to $4 billion from 2020 to 2026, attaining a CAGR of 25.5%.
• AI in agriculture market size stood at $852.2 million in 2019, and it is expected to reach $8,379.5 million by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 24.8% during the forecast period (2020–2030).
• By region, North America generated the highest revenue in AI in the agriculture market, but it is predicted that the fastest growing market will be the Asia Pacific.

How AI in Agritech Solves Prominent Farming Challenges?

Adopting AI in agritech is quite a challenge for farmers who are not tech-savvy. They consider Artificial Intelligence to be a part of the digital world only and lack knowledge of how it can be used as a practical application for various agriculture processes. New technology seems confusing because the agritech providers often fail to explain how their solutions are useful in the field or the exact process of implementing those. Let’s look at some of the persistent challenges of AI in the agriculture industry:

Also Read: Green AI: How AI can solve sustainability challenges

AI Enables Better Decision-Making Process

With predictive analytics, farmers can now collect and process data easily and do it faster with AI. Forecasting prices, analyzing market demand, and determining the optimal time for sowing and harvesting are some of the crucial tasks which farmers can solve with AI. 

AI implementation in agriculture can also help gather soil health insights, monitor the weather, provide fertilizer recommendations and track the readiness of a particular produce. All these factors enable the farmers to make better decisions at every stage of their agriculture process.

Bonus Read- Breaking the Digital Frontier in Agriculture with Mobile Apps

Addresses Shortage of Labour

Working on agricultural land is hard, and agriculture, as an industry, has been consistently experiencing this. Labour shortage in this industry is nothing new. However, this common agricultural problem can be solved with the help of automation. 

Smart irrigation systems, driverless tractors, smart fertilizing systems, vertical farming software, smart spraying, and AI-based robots for sowing and harvesting are some of the best AI in agriculture examples that show how farmers can get their crop management process done without having to hire manual labor. Compared to humans, AI-driven tools are faster and provide more accurate results.

AI Helps in Cost Savings

Precision agriculture can help farmers grow crops with lesser resources, thus leading to cost savings. This kind of agriculture is powered by Artificial Intelligence and has now become a big thing in the field of agriculture. By combining the best soil management practices and effective data management practices, farmers can minimize their spending and maximize yields. AI for agriculture helps in identifying areas that need fertilization, irrigation, or pesticide treatment. 

For instance, vertical agriculture helps to increase crop production, thus minimizing the utilization of resources. The result is better harvest quality, lesser use of pesticides, significant cost savings, and higher profits.

What are the Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture?

The adoption rate of artificial intelligence in the agriculture industry has changed the overall outcome of farming efforts, with a majority of startups in agriculture adopting AI-enabled approaches to increase the efficiency of agricultural production. Let’s dive deep into the various applications of AI in agriculture. 

1. Weather Prediction

Over the years, we have experienced a drastic increase in pollution level and unpredictable climatic conditions. The change in climate has made it difficult for farmers to determine the right time for sowing seeds, and that’s where AI comes into the picture. With the help of artificial intelligence, it is easy to gain insight into how weather, seasonal sunlight, wind speed, and rain will affect crop planting cycles. Weather forecasting will help farmers analyze and plan when the seeds should be sown.

2. Soil and Crop Monitoring in Real-Time

Soil is one of the most important factors that determine the growth and health of any plant. The nutrition of the soil determines the quality of the crop. Due to deforestation, the soil quality deteriorates over time, and it becomes very difficult for farmers to understand what soil will be best for what crop. 

3. Using Drones for Data Collection

Thanks to AI and machine learning in agriculture, crop yield can be improved through real-time sensor data and visual analytics data from drones. Drones can provide real-time video surveillance that can analyze the growth patterns of crops. 

On the other hand, smart sensors can provide data on moisture, fertilizer, and natural nutrient levels. That being said, we cannot deny the fact that drones are a reliable tool for capturing data on how specific fertilizers, watering patterns, and pesticide treatment methods are improving crop yields. 

4. Precision Farming

Use of AI in agriculture has resulted in applications that provide farmers with proper guidance regarding water management, crop rotation, timely harvesting, optimum planting, pest attacks, etc. With the help of machine learning algorithms and the images captured by satellites and drones, we can predict weather conditions and nutrition management and analyze crop sustainability. 

Precision farming is an approach where data inputs are utilized in precise amounts to achieve maximum crop yields. Farmers with smartphones and AI applications can get customized plans for their lands. With such IoT and AI-driven solutions, farmers can meet the requirements of our current and future world that include – increased food sustainably, growing production, and revenues without depleting any of our natural resources.

The market value of precision farming is expected to grow from approximately 5.09 million U.S. dollars in 2018 to 9.53 billion U.S. dollars by 2023.

5. AI-Powered Robots

AI-powered companies are developing robots to perform multiple farming tasks. These robots will be trained to control the excessive growth of weeds and harvest crops. They will also be trained to pick and pack crops. The goal is to automate such manual tasks and accomplish them at a much faster pace with higher volumes when compared to humans.

Bonus Read- Food Automation – How AI and Robotics are Transforming the Future of the Industry

6. AI-Enabled Surveillance Systems

AI technology in agriculture enables the usage of satellite images in order to compare them with past data to detect animal or human breaches. This reduces the risk of any domestic or wild animal that can destroy crops. AI algorithms can also detect something as small as an insect, for example- locust, grasshopper, etc. Once an intrusion is detected, alerts are immediately sent to the farmers on their smartphones so that they can take the required precautions.

AI Use Cases in Agriculture

When it comes to offering assistance to farmers, agritech solutions play a major role. If you want to know how is AI used in agriculture, then check out these real-life use cases:

1. Plantix app turns your smartphone into a mobile crop doctor with which you can accurately detect pests and diseases on crops within seconds. Plantix serves as a complete solution for crop production and management.
2. Appinventiv created an agri-education app, MAAN meant for improvising the nourishment conditions in the NMA region. The app allows the users to discuss and share agriculture-related articles and notes along with sharing their own experiences with their fellow users. The development team created an app like MAAN that was multilingual and could be used in offline mode. 
3. An Agri app like Ag Butler seeks to curb the issue of labor shortage. It connects farm job seekers with the farm owners by creating a network of agricultural workers. Similar to the “ride-sharing” technology, Ag Butler allows ranchers and farmers to connect with available laborers by filtering the location, rating, and work experience. 
4. Agrobot robots have the ability to operate 24/7, which increases efficiency, and optimizes the cost of precision to weed, hoe, and harvest. The Argobot E-series with an advanced AI system not only picks up the crops but can also identify the ripeness of the crop in the field.

The Top Agritech Services that your Business Need

AI technology in agriculture or, more precisely, agritech services help to ease complex manual operations of your business with outstanding solutions. Grow the potential of your agri-business with these following agritech services.

Farm Management System 

Farm management system helps the farmers to make informed decisions, improvise their farm production and streamline their operations to gain more yields and profits.

Aerial Imaging

With aerial imaging services, farmers can utilize aerial-captured images for advanced analysis of their crop yields and other agriculture-related factors which need to be addressed immediately.

Robotics and Automation

The advanced robotic and automation software solutions and tools are simply the future of AI in agriculture. With these hi-tech solutions, the agricultural sector can ensure optimum efficiency with the least farming efforts. 

Vertical and Indoor Farming

With agriculture software solutions, farmers can smoothly manage their indoor and vertical farms in urban spaces by utilizing advanced tools for controlling indoor climate conditions along with monitoring crop yields. 

Why your Business Needs Agriculture Custom Software Development

Agriculture custom software development can take your business to the next level. Let’s check out the reasons why the leading agriculture software companies go for agriculture software development services:

Automated Processes

With agriculture IT consulting firms like Appinventiv, you can now build your agriculture software solutions that would automate your agricultural workflows like livestock or field monitoring, pest management, irrigation management, and people coordination. 

Better Planning 

By utilizing the visualization and data analytics tools, you can access real-time insights that will help you make informed decisions with proactive planning for predicting stronger agri-based results. 

Improvised Farm Management

Gain visibility into your agricultural processes and remotely control them from your mobile, laptop, or desktop by leveraging digital tools. This will ensure better results and ensure improvised farm management.

Increase Nutritional Value

By developing a custom tracking system from a repeated agriculture software firm, you can receive complete data on your product in real-time. With this, you can adjust the treatment process of your crops and maximize the quality and quantity of your yields.

Cost Reduction

Optimize utilization of resources and minimize waste along with maintaining a reasonable cost balance by integrating precision agriculture software from the best agriculture technology consulting firm like ours.

Meet Sustainable Goals

Now, you will be able to reach your sustainability goal with agriculture software consulting. The growing requirement of cutting carbon footprint and enhancement of food security. All this is possible by breaking the digital frontier in the agriculture sector with innovation.

Final Say

Technological advancements in agriculture will help the world deal with food production issues for the growing population. The growth in artificial intelligence technology has strengthened agro-based businesses to run more efficiently than ever. If you are looking for an agriculture software development company for your brilliant idea, this is the time to bring that idea to life.

We also serve across the globe with our AI development services in the USA, Europe, and Asia to help our customers and clients achieve their goals.

FAQs

Q. What are the advantages of artificial intelligence in agriculture?

A. There are numerous advantages of AI in agriculture:

• AI in agriculture is a more efficient way to produce, harvest and sell essential crops.
• Farmers can respond smartly to climate change by implementing approaches empowered by AI in climate change.
• AI emphasizes checking defective crops and pest identification, further improving crop health and yields.
• With the help of AI, it is impossible for intruders – wild or domestic animals and thieves to ruin your harvest.
• Crop management practices are improved with the help of technology.  Farmers can produce higher crop yields with better quality by using fewer resources.
• AI technology reduces the labour challenge and automates manual work, accelerating the food transformation.

Q. What is SaaS in agriculture?

A. SaaS-based agriculture is a solution meant for keeping up with the growing demand for agro products paired with the ever-increasing concerns faced by the agricultural industry like environmental damage, depleting resources, water wastage, and increasing carbon footprint. Agriculture software solutions are currently transforming the global agriculture scenario and changing how farmers do their job, thus allowing them to make smarter farming decisions.

Q. What are the various applications of AI in the agriculture sector?

A. AI in agriculture is currently helping farmers deliver efficient crop yields by utilizing data and devices like autonomous tractors, smart drones, soil sensors, and others. AI has found this application in the agricultural sector a long time back as it has increased the efficiency of agriculture. Let’s see various applications of AI in the agriculture sector:

• Weather prediction
• Crop and soil monitoring in real-time 
• Leveraging drones for collecting data 
• AI-powered robots
• AI-enabled surveillance system

Q. What are the challenges that farmers face while adopting AI?

A. Considering the benefits of AI in agriculture and the widespread usage of AI in agriculture projects, agritech is now streamlining agricultural operations. However, there are still certain challenges in this regard. Here are some of them:

1. Lengthy adoption process of technology – Farmers need to understand that AI is just an advanced part of simple technologies for gathering, processing, and monitoring field data. It requires proper technology infrastructure for streamlining operations. However, with difficulties in perceiving the technology, it takes time for them to adopt it in their agriculture processes. 

2. Lack of technological knowledge – The agricultural sector in a few global regions is not yet quite accustomed to emerging technologies, which has made it even more difficult to go for early adoption of AI in agriculture. 

3. Security and privacy issues – Since there are no clear regulations and policies around the utilization of AI in agriculture or in precision agriculture, several legal issues often go unanswered. Cyber attacks and data leaks often cause farmers great harm. 

Q. What are the effects of artificial intelligence in agriculture?

A. AI technology has a sizable impact on the entire agriculture industry worldwide. It has helped the sector grow in various ways. Here are some of them:

• AI tackles the problem of labor shortage
• Helps in the improvement of harvest
• Helps in whether data forecast
• Decreases the utilization of pesticides
• Detects plant diseases

THE AUTHOR

Sudeep Srivastava

Co-Founder and Director