Amazing Applications of AI in the Agricultural Industry:
Agriculture is the foundation and base of the economy for many countries. It is one of the oldest and most vital professions in all sectors of the economy. By 2050 the demand for agricultural products will increase by 70 %, so there is a need to fulfill that demand by increasing production by using modern technology in the agricultural Industry. Improving crop quality and production is a challenging task for farmers every time. Climatic conditions like weather, rainfall, humidity, and temperature play an important part in the agricultural industry. Still, it is not easy to predict weather conditions and then choose the crops for farmers. Traditional methods are not always satisfactory for controlling and analyzing those factors to get good results.
Agriculture is the most challenging and risky profession for any farmer. Every crop requires proper nutrients such as phosphorus(p), potassium(k), and Nitrogen(N) are the essential elements that are needed to increase soil quality and fertility to nurture crops and gain maximum production. Because if crop harvesting is done, then controlling weeds and pests on the crops is again a big challenge for the farmers.
Artificial intelligence has proved to be a revolutionary technology for the agriculture industry in recent years. AI gives benefits like healthier crops, controlling pests, nurturing crops, helping to increase soil fertility, and weather detection, which turns the agriculture sector into an opportunity. Below are some key uses of AI which play a supportive role in the growth of the agricultural industry.
Use of AI in Crop and Soil Analysis
Fertile soil yields the best crops after harvesting. So, the quality of crop production is based on the soil type and nutrients in the ground. But the increasing deforestation and use of chemical fertilizers in large quantities degrade the essential nutrients in the soil, so it becomes hard to determine the soil quality today. But AI technology uses the latest applications and algorithms. These applications help to check soil’s nutrient availability and detect diseases and pests on the crops. Using AI, we can develop automated watering systems that provide enough moisture to the soil with the help of different temperature and humidity sensors.
AI for Weather Forecasting
Weather analysis is a term that plays a crucial role in agriculture for taking crops at the right time with correct weather conditions for particular crops. The help of AI tech helps farmers to do weather forecasting and efficient planning for growing the right crop in proper weather conditions. AI’s decision-making capacity using machine learning helps to decide whether and can predict the weather for respective crop types.
Pest and Weed Detection on Crops by AI
After harvesting crops, there is the possibility of causing diseases by pests and weeds to crop plants, resulting in farmers’ loss and reduced profit. There are some traditional and chemical methods that can help reduce harmful insects on the crop that damage the crop, but these methods cannot eradicate disease caused by that pest in a short time. But our newly formed technology like AI and Machine Learning help farmers to detect problems and conditions on the crops smartly. Drones and underwater tech with sensors detect bugs, insects, and weeds that try to harm crops.
Intelligent Spraying
Intelligent spraying is the spraying of chemical and organic fertilizers on crops. Drone technology is combined with AI, giving excellent agricultural sector results. A drone is a handy small tool with an attachable camera, and a drone is also aerial in function. This intelligent spraying system includes sensors that spray on targeted areas and help to eradicate unwanted insects from the plant. Around one-fifth of the crops get destroyed due to various diseases and pests.
Agricultural Robots
Traditionally farmers need many workers for field work to harvest crops within a fixed period. As in this generation, AI robots help many sectors for improving work with zero mistakes and efficiency. These robots can do multiple fieldworks by consuming time. AI robots also help detect pests on the crop and tasks like checking crop quality and moisture level in the soil faster than humans.
AI predictive insights
The agriculture industry, which generally runs on the correct predictions in case of weather, harvesting time, quality of the crop, fertility of the soil, and supply of water, all these decisions lead to higher production. But due to environmental changes, many farmers face problems predicting these things today. Artificial intelligence applications help predict and analyze the data and give appropriate output on it, like the right time for sowing seeds and moisture level in the soil, quality of plant species, to recognize disease plant species.
Conclusion
The future of AI tech in farming depends upon the ease of using and adapting it by agriculturists and farmers. Tech companies already introduce many advanced applications and AI devices. But there is a need to learn and handle this technology to gain more growth in agriculture, and we can provide food to increasing demand in the world.
