Harnessing the Power of AI for Agriculture

The future of farming can sometimes seem very uncertain. From fluctuating crop prices, a changing climate, and concerns about sustainability, there are a myriad of complex challenges for soybean growers to address. There are even more decisions farmers need to make with imperfect information. Researchers at the University of Minnesota are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to tackle these complex problems and aid in decision making at the Precision Agriculture Center and the AI Institute for Land, Economy, Agriculture, & Forestry (AI-LEAF).

The interdisciplinary teams at AI-LEAF are at the intersection of AI and agriculture. New AI tools are being used to analyze the massive amounts of data available to farmers for things like improved productivity, sustainability, efficiency, fertilizer application, and weed control. At another level, researchers are utilizing AI to evaluate the impact of agricultural practices on a large scale and under different, changing climate scenarios.