Nowadays, agriculture is all about high speed and precision. From prediction technology to Artificial Intelligence (AI), farmers have a range of tools at their disposal to streamline crop production.
Nowadays, agriculture is all about high speed and precision. From prediction technology to Artificial Intelligence (AI), farmers have a range of tools at their disposal to streamline crop production.
In the last decade, there has been unparalleled growth in precision agriculture across the globe.
Precision agriculture involves a range of strategies and tools that enable farmers to optimize and increase soil quality and productivity by introducing a series of targeted key interventions.
Based on state-of-the-art tools and technologies, precision agriculture allows farmers to intervene at the right time and choose the right solution for their crop to streamline crop production. It saves time and leads to better sustainability, higher productivity, and increased profitability for farmers.
“The biggest challenge for agriculture remains the same as it has been for 7,000 years – to produce more with less resources,” says Cezar Busato, a Brazilian agronomist.
Busato, who has been running his family farm for over a decade, says that given the advancement in technology, farmers these days can count on efficient prediction tools for effective application of chemicals and fertilizers.
“When you combine these with Artificial Intelligence, working with a database full of high quality information, you will be able to produce more, spend less resources and be more sustainable,” he says. He believes robust Artificial Intelligence will be a game changer in agriculture.
Farmers make between 100 and 150 decisions during a season – from choosing the right genetic variety for their field to assessing the soil conditions and planting the right seed at the right time.
Syngenta, a provider of agricultural science and technology, has been developing precision agriculture tools to enable farmers to get those decisions right – using data and AI to increase their overall yield and to streamline crop production.
“We have a strong presence on the ground through our channel partners, and we work with them using these technologies and their algorithms and make them suitable for use by the farmers,” says Feroz Sheikh, Syngenta’s Chief Digital Officer.
Sheikh says one of Syngenta’s most successful digital products is a risk mitigation offer called AgriClime, which is available in several countries. It makes weather predictions, including “the likely heat or frost or cold conditions or how much rainfall is expected in the season and providing some kind of a mitigation guarantee to the farmers, sort of like an insurance.”
Originally published at CGTN