Data, AI and other tech revolutionizing the farm industry
Today’s farming businesses are facing unique challenges, but there are exciting new tools at their disposal that offer new possibilities. These tools are getting more sophisticated every day. By simply tracking recent trends in the agriculture industry, we can start to get a sense of where the sector is likely to go next. One fact seems undeniable: data and artificial intelligence (AI) are here to stay. Both are essential tools that can transform any farm’s sense of what is possible. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how high‑tech tools are revolutionizing the farm industry.
Finding direction with data
Agribusinesses often have an abundance of data, but don’t know what to do with it – and they don’t have the time to craft a robust data analytics dashboard. Our clients turn to us as their advisors to organize this data and present it in a way to help them make decisions. For the most part, this is financial data. However, we also have a lot of data from their machinery, which offers a better sense of fuel burn yields, seeding rates, fertilizer rates and more. Our aim is to bring this non‑financial data together with the accounting data to evaluate their agronomy strategies, making projections and recommendations that are useful to their business.
More specifics, more value
In the past, we could provide cost per field data, but now we’re able to be much more granular, providing data that assesses cost per plant. Cost per section of land or cost per one quarter section of land just isn’t a relevant metric anymore. To understand the efficiencies necessary to grow a farm business, we really need to drill down and get into specifics. While the data we access might not change the decisions these businesses make, it can provide data‑based points to support their choices, so they can proceed with a sense of confidence. In making decisions, producers tend to rely on their gut feeling, but data is valuable because it can validate their decision. In some cases, the data also gives them a helpful sense of how they could tweak their strategy.
The predictive power of AI
The predictive nature of AI is very useful in the agriculture industry, and most of the agritech related to AI is predictive in nature. It can mine a great deal of data and use that historical information to craft strategy going forward. For example, weather is a crucial variable in this industry. With the help of AI, you can draw on historical data to better detect weather trends and predict future outcomes related to these trends. More importantly, AI can reach these conclusions quickly, which is one of its greatest virtues. Whether you’re searching for information or need to write something, there’s likely an AI solution that can save you time.
From information to insight to analysis
AI can be extremely helpful to your business, and it should support the decisions you make. But it is only a tool, and it can’t be the entire basis for your decision‑making. Moreover, AI is only as good as the information you give it. For example, one tool currently available is AI Agronomist, which allows you to input your information then generate your strategies field by field. This will save you time, but you have to carefully analyze the tool’s findings.
Fewer humans, better results
In other areas of agriculture, we’ve seen an ongoing movement away from human presence where more advanced tech options are available. For one, we’ve seen GPS technology continue to evolve and present breakthroughs in farm vehicles, which can now operate without drivers, allowing farms to get better results at a lower cost. Meanwhile, the dairy industry has used robotics for many years, but they’ve continued to get more advanced. It is now common for cows to be milked with no human intervention. They simply enter the parlor, which can detect who they are, when they were there last and whether they need to be milked. Efficiency has always been a priority in the agriculture industry, and these tools have already proven to be game‑changers. We can only expect them to continue to evolve and become increasingly relevant in the near future.
Candice McKay
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