Artificial Intelligence Augmenting the Agriculture Sector

Food, a given for many, continues to be scarce for some around the world. According to Our World in Data, around 821 million people globally are undernourished and about 1.9 billion people are suffering moderate to severe food insecurity. The agriculture industry currently employs about 26% of the world population according to the World Bank and is responsible for sustaining the food supply of 7.5 billion people. This is expected to be increasingly challenging with the global population increasing to 9.7 billion by 2050 based on United Nations (UN) projections.

Countries like Israel and Singapore, having high population growth and lack of arable land for agricultural purposes are unable to produce much of their own food. They rely heavily on imports to feed their people¾Singapore imports over 90% of its food and Israel imports about 80% of its grains. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic causing massive disruptions to the global supply chain, concerns over food security have grown. As governments and the agriculture industry continuously strive to alleviate the problem of food insecurity, the seemingly controversial technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes into the picture. Despite the concerns over privacy and issues with automated decision-making, there have been a growing number of startups in both Israel and Singapore that are developing solutions that use AI technology to solve food security-related issues.

ABI Research’s IoT Market Tracker - Worldwide (MD-IOTMMWW-107) forecasts that the Internet of Things (IoT) connections in agriculture will reach 29.7 million in 2025, from 13.5 million in 2020, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 17.1%. This provides some indication as to how the agriculture industry will evolve, with more data being produced from the growing number of connections. This abundance of data, which include historic data on soil, weather data, rainfall data, harvest information, and yield performance, among many others, provides significant growth and development opportunities for the agriculture sector. With the help of AI, farmers can analyze large amounts of data collected from the farm and other sources to make better, more well-informed decisions in their crop operations and planning to optimize yield. Israeli startup Greeneye Technology is developing a next-generation AI system that detects, identifies, and sprays weeds with herbicides or pesticides in real time. Trials, so far, have indicated that its technology created a reduction of 90% in herbicide usage. SeeTree, another agritech startup based in Tel Aviv, uses drones, sensors, AI, and Machine Learning (ML) to provide visibility on the health and productivity of individual trees in a farm. Farmers are better equipped with specific, precise information to more efficiently manage their crops. These developments can lead to greater food production and, as a result, greater food security through increased yields that produce less pollution and use less chemicals.

Another way the issue of food security is being tackled is through the use of AI-enabling and enhancing verticals and indoor farming. In urban cities like Singapore, where land is scarce, especially for agriculture use, there is a greater necessity for alternative methods to traditional farming that require less space and are adaptable to different environments. Vertical farms are crucial to this transition, as they have smaller footprints, use a fraction of the resources, and can be grown anywhere. Companies like VertiVegies, Singapore’s leading indoor vertical farming company, are using AI systems coupled with biosensors to grow crops vertically. This enables large amounts of data and images to be collected before being analyzed and fed back into the AI algorithms. These algorithms subsequently make adjustments to optimize the parameters that affect the plants’ growth¾water, temperature, oxygen, humidity, and light frequency. Even though it is unlikely that vertical and indoor farms can feed the entire planet by 2050, these methods provide additionally security in terms of supplemental supply, to countries that rely heavily on imports for their food¾easily influenced by external factors, such as supply chain disruption to due COVID-19.

As AI matures, it is important that the agriculture industry adopt and embrace the technology in their operations, aiming to help alleviate food insecurity throughout the world. The technology has shown some success in increasing yields, while simultaneously consuming fewer resources and producing lower levels of pollution. In order to achieve progress, widespread adoption of the technology in the agriculture sector is needed with countries and their governments playing a vital role in promoting and contributing to the industry. Recently, in collaboration with the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in India and the World Economic Forum, the State of Telangana launched the Artificial Intelligence for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) program. The program aims to identify high-impact uses cases of AI that will change the farming industry and provide benefits to farmers and policymakers. In Singapore, the government has set aside a budget of US$300 million to support startups in the deep tech sector, which includes agritech, due to the high startup costs involved. Government initiatives and investments are key driving forces toward innovation and development in the agriculture industry.

There is also a common goal among world organizations of using technologies like AI to aid with food security. The UN World Food Program (WFP) has an Innovation Accelerator that supports projects that use AI and ML. One example is a project developed by the WFP’s Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) unit that collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture to use satellite imagery and ML for a country-wide assessment of crops. Earlier this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN proposed forming an International Digital Council for Food and Agriculture with the goal of supporting governments and other key stakeholders in the agri-food system to use digitalization to maximize production, productivity, and sustainability.

Global warming and climate change are continuing to have an effect on the world and the global agriculture sector. By extension, it could further exacerbate the problem of food insecurity, among many other issues. Finding alternative technologies, such as AI, to improve on existing practices and methods in farming will enable more efficient farming, enhanced yields, and more sustainable food production for the benefit of society.