Precision Agriculture Meets Intelligence: Tracking AI’s Emerging Role in the Field
The past year or so, one set of initials has dominated much of the technology talk in the agricultural world — AI (artificial intelligence). Since computer systems using AI first became “a thing” a few years ago, there has been a rush across various industries to adopt these technologies for more widespread usage. Examples of this include AI systems being used to mimic celebrity (or politician) voices and ChatGTP authoring articles that have appeared across the internet.
Agriculture has also jumped onto this AI bandwagon in a few instances. Back in 2022, John Deere introduced a new AI-driven system for its self-propelled sprayers called See & Spray. In operation, See & Spray utilizes targeted spray technology designed by Blue River Technology. This employs cameras and processors mounted on John Deere’s carbon-fiber truss-style boom in combination with computer vision and AI to distinguish weeds from crop plants. Other such systems have also been introduced by such well-known ag technology manufacturers as Raven Industries and BASF Bosch in the interim.
Here at CropLife® magazine, we are not immune to the AI discussion. In fact, we continue to cover this trend in earnest, speculating where it might lead now that AI is becoming more commonplace across the world.
Of course, all this begs one simple question: How quickly will AI systems be adopted in agriculture? Will they multiply quickly over a brief period of time or take longer to gain widespread acceptance among ag retailers and their grower-customers? To get some perspective on this, consider the results from two separate surveys conducted by the CropLife Media Group — The CropLife/Purdue PrecisionAg Adoption Survey and the 2024 Precision AgTech Buying Intentions Survey.
For more than 20 years now, CropLife has annually teamed up with Purdue University to gauge the adoption rates for various technologies among ag retailers. Approximately 90% of these tend to slowly trend upward over time, moving forward a few percentage points each year. The lone exception to this has been automatic steering for sprayers. Debuting at a 5% adoption rate when it was introduced in 2004, this technology achieved an adoption rate of 89% by 2023 — a 1,680% increase! Even drones — the newest “hot” ag items — have only slowly expanded their reach, growing from 14% adoption in 2021 to 32% today.
For AI specifically, the 2024 Precision AgTech Buying Intentions Survey is more telling. According to results here, only 6% of respondents plan to spend more than $1 million on AI systems during the 2024 growing season. The vast majority — 59% — foresee spending “less than $100,000” on this category for the year. The remaining 35% fell somewhere in the middle of these two spending extremes when it comes to AI technology.
So, based upon the early evidence, the growth of AI in agriculture will follow the slow path forward. However, there will still be plenty of excitement as new AI-based systems and technologies make their marketplace debuts along the way!
Editor’s note: This article originally published in May 2024.
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