When people think of farming, words like quaint, simple or old-fashioned might come to mind.
But the agriculture industry is often more technologically advanced than one would think.
Take for instance Dennis Carnahan, a farmer in Southwest Indiana near Vincennes. He uses some of John Deere’s latest equipment.
His tractor can drive itself row by row, monitoring exactly what has and hasn’t been covered. His planter changes how fast seeds release from the tank depending on how fast he’s going.
“On the previous planter, I'd have to go back and adjust the hydraulics with a dial manually,” he said. “And now I can do that from the seat and adjust it on the go. So that's really helpful.”
These pieces of technology help Carnahan save money on seeds and precious time during the planting season.
And those are commercially available pieces of equipment. Behind closed doors at places such as Purdue University, new ideas are being conjured up and tested regularly.
John Evans is an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering. His lab aims to help the industry grow more crops for less cost.
“We do a lot with basically trying to automate machines in general, but specifically around row crop agriculture and how we can leverage that to make agriculture more efficient,” he said.
One of those projects is an Open Source, Connected Autonomous Rover, or OSCAR for short. The goal is to create an automated rover using off-the-shelf parts, allowing industry workers the ability to survey entire fields for a fraction of the cost.
Bruce Erikson, clinical professor of digital agriculture at Purdue, said much of AI’s planned use is about monitoring the health of crops.
“Could we measure something in agriculture, the amount of nutrient in a field or the performance of a steer or something like that on a lot, then knowing that could we alter the ration?” he said. “Could we change the fertilizer? Could we be more specific in our weed control, all of those types of things, and make better decisions?”
AI falls under the umbrella of what is called digital agriculture, a set of tools that collect and analyze data on the industry. Digital Ag has been emphasized by Cornell, Purdue, and the United Nations Project Breakthrough as playing a key role in the optimization of food systems.
Erikson said as the human population continues to grow, the challenge will become making the most of the limited space we have on this planet to grow food for everyone. By maxing out the efficiency of fields through the use of data-driven solutions like CO2 capture, cover crop usage, reducing tillage and more, farmers can grow more food on the same amount of land.
“We can give producers tools that can allow them to do that, without them having to make too many economic sacrifices and for it to fit into their operation,” he said.
And how will the use of AI be received?
Doug Hurt, a Purdue history professor, said that depends on how the technology interacts with the industry.
Ultimately, Hurt said acceptance by the public and industry workers will be determined by how AI is applied.
“In a way, technology is neutral,” he said. “It's how it's used that makes it either a problem or a benefit. And with the rapid changes in technological development today, particularly chemically and genetically, I think this is really a new world.”
Source: indianapublicmedia.org
Photo Credit: GettyImages-shaunl
Categories: Indiana, Business