AMBO UNIVERSITY WOLISO CAMPUS

SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATICS

DEPARTEMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

AI IN AGRICULTURE
IT 4TH YEAR AI ASSIGNMENT BY TOLOSA
TOLOSA TAFESE

Author :- Tolosa Tafese

ID Number:- 25867//11

Course Name:- Artificial Intelligence

Course Code:-

Submitted to:-Mr. Miliyon.

Woliso, Ethiopia
AI IN AGRICULTURE

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................2
2. IMPORTANCE OF AI IN AGRICULTURE.................................................................................................2
3. Impact of AI on agriculture..................................................................................................................3
3.1 Chabot’s for farmers..........................................................................................................................4
3.2 Robots in agriculture.........................................................................................................................4
4. How AI can be useful in agriculture.....................................................................................................4
5. Applying AI to solve farming challenges..............................................................................................6
AI enables better decision-making.......................................................................................................6
AI brings cost savings..........................................................................................................................6
AI addresses labor shortages................................................................................................................6
6. Problems farms can face while adopting AI.........................................................................................6
Lengthy technology adoption process..................................................................................................6
Lack of experience with emerging technologies..................................................................................7
7. How AI should be combined with other technologies.........................................................................7
Big data for informed decision-making...............................................................................................7
IoT sensors for capturing and analyzing data.......................................................................................7
Automation and robotics for minimizing manual work.......................................................................7
8. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture.............................................................................8
9. CONLUSION.......................................................................................................................................11
10. References.....................................................................................................................................12

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1. INTRODUCTION
AI is extremely necessary in agriculture. Agriculture is generally a primary occupation which
takes a lot of hard work, perseverance, persistence with low income and uncomfortable lifestyle.
Farmers work very hard to grow suitable crops which takes a lot of time and therefore they are
forced to accept agriculture as their main source of income but because of low income and
sometimes no gain from land due to weather conditions or scarcity of resources, farmers have to
face loss and declination in financial conditions which ultimately result in suicide due to
depression. The main reason for the same problem is failing in choosing a proper secondary
occupation due to more time consumption and drainage of energy. AI in agriculture will allocate
in fixing these sensible problems by reducing time consumption and nearly null hard work.
Proper use of AI will absolutely result in better yield with uniform plantation and proper growth
of crops resulting in better lifestyle for farmers.AI in agriculture will help farmers to plan a
secondary path for income which will help them to bolster their moral avoiding depressions and
suicides.

2. IMPORTANCE OF AI IN AGRICULTURE
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be applied cross disciplinary and it can also bring a paradigm
shift in how we see farming today. AI-powered solutions will not only enable farmers to do more
with less, but it will also help farmers to acquire more yield, as per the increasing utilization of
high tech machineries in general life, such as education, hospitals and even governance.
Agriculture is the most reverberated of all, as artificial intelligence is focused on easiness and
smart working. Agricultural fields should be enhanced with AI on low costs and easy processing.
Through Artificial Intelligence various agriculture problems are controlled in quick interval of
time. In Artificial intelligence various techniques like improve harvesting quality, introduce
indoor farming for better production rate of crops. There are many applications of AI which will
genuinely help farmers such as Analyze farm data by improving quality and accuracy of crops,
with the help of AI sensor target weeds can be detected, and also it can detect diseases in plants,
pests etc.AI tackles with labor challenges, As we know less people are entering this profession,
therefore farmers are facing problems of a workforce shortage, less manpower so solution to this
is agriculture bots which will work along with farmers. This bots harvest crops at higher volume
and faster too. Robotics had develop a robot for farmers which will pick and pack the crop. AI
also does diagnostic analysis like Satellites for Weather Prediction and Crop Sustainability; this
would really help farmers if they previously have idea of weather changes. Driverless Tractors
one of the AI techniques as it operates without presence of human inside the tractor itself it will
reduce much work of farmers. Crop spraying technique also helps farmers by aerial spraying is
five times faster with drones than traditional machinery. One of the smart applications is
introduced in AI for farming is agri-ECalculator which helps which helps farmer for choosing
suitable and affordable crops, it calculates its price. In simple words we can say that, the use of
AI in Agriculture is allowing farmers worldwide to run more efficiently.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) can help make the entire food production process more efficient and
improve the sustainability of agricultural techniques.

The chain of events that unfolds in between planting a crop to putting food on the table is quite
complicated: planting the right crop in the right soil, protecting it from pests, harvesting it at the
right time, and transporting the harvest to the consumer take a huge amount of experience and
coordination. AI can help to streamline this process at many points along the chain.

Not only can machines automatically plant, fertilize, and harvest crops, but AI can also analysis
data from the farm through sensors and cameras and can advise farmers on where and when to
plant crops.

Similarly, an AI-powered camera mounted on a tractor can automatically detect pests and spray
pesticide in a targeted area, reducing the use of pesticides. But AI can take this even further and
can link pest detection in specific areas over time with implications for farm management.

3. Impact of AI on agriculture
The technologies which are AI-based help to improve efficiency in all the fields and also manage
the challenges faced by various industries including the various fields in the agricultural sector
like the crop yield, irrigation, soil content sensing, crop- monitoring, weeding, crop
establishment 

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Agricultural robots are built in order to deliver high valued application of AI in the mentioned
sector. With the global population soaring, the agricultural sector is facing a crisis, but AI has the
potential to deliver much-needed solution. AI- based technological solutions has enabled the
farmers to produce more output with less input and even improved the quality of output, also
ensuring faster go-to- market for the yielded crops.

3.1 Chabot’s for farmers

Chabot’s are nothing but the conversational virtual assistants who automate interactions with end
users. Artificial intelligence powered Chabot’s, along with machine learning techniques has
enabled us to understand natural language and interact with users in away more personalized
way. They are mainly equipped for retail, travel, media, and agriculture has used this facility by
assisting the farmers to receive answers to their unanswered questions, for giving advice to them
and providing various recommendations also.

3.2 Robots in agriculture

Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) are introduced in large sectors of the economy with
relatively low productivity such as Agri-Food

The robots are performing various agricultural operations autonomously such as weeding,
irrigation, guarding the farms for delivering effective reports, ensuring that the adverse
environmental conditions do not affect the production, increase precision, and manage individual
plants in various unfamiliar ways.

4. How AI can be useful in agriculture

Agriculture involves a number of processes and stages, the lion’s share of which are manual. By
complementing adopted technologies, AI can facilitate the most complex and routine tasks. It
can gather and process big data on a digital platform, come up with the best course of action, and
even initiate that action when combined with other technology.

The role of AI in the agriculture information management cycle

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Combining artificial intelligence and agriculture can be beneficial for the following processes:

Analyzing market demand

AI can simplify crop selection and help farmers identify what produce will be most profitable.

Managing risk
Farmers can use forecasting and predictive analytics to reduce errors in business processes and
minimize the risk of crop failures.

Breeding seeds
By collecting data on plant growth, AI can help produce crops that are less prone to disease and
better adapted to weather conditions.

Monitoring soil health

AI systems can conduct chemical soil analyses and provide accurate estimates of missing
nutrients.

Protecting crops
AI can monitor the state of plants to spot and even predict diseases, identify and remove weeds,
and recommend effective treatment of pests.

Feeding crops
AI is useful for identifying optimal irrigation patterns and nutrient application times and
predicting the optimal mix of agronomic products.

Harvesting
With the help of AI, it’s possible to automate harvesting and even predict the best time for it.

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5. Applying AI to solve farming challenges

AI enables better decision-making

Predictive analytics can be a real game-changer. Farmers can collect and process significantly
more data and do it faster with AI than they would otherwise. Analyzing market demand,
forecasting prices, and determining the optimal time for sowing and harvesting are key
challenges farmers can solve with AI.

That said, AI can also gather soil health insights, provide fertilizer recommendations, monitor the
weather, and track the readiness of produce. All of that enables farmers to make better decisions
at every stage of the crop cultivation process.

AI brings cost savings

One particular farm management approach — precision agriculture — can help farmers grow
more crops with fewer resources. Precision agriculture powered by AI could become the next big
thing in farming. Precision farming combines the best soil management practices, variable rate
technology, and the most effective data management practices to help farmers maximize yields
and minimize spending.

AI can provide farmers with real-time insights from their fields, allowing them to identify areas
that need irrigation, fertilization, or pesticide treatment. Also, innovative farming practices
like vertical agriculture may help increase food production while minimizing the use of
resources. The result is reduced use of herbicides, better harvest quality, higher profits, and
significant cost savings.

AI addresses labor shortages

Agricultural work is hard, and labor shortages in this industry are nothing new. Farmers can
solve this problem with the help of automation. Driverless tractors, smart irrigation and
fertilizing systems, smart spraying, vertical farming software, and AI-based robots for harvesting
are some examples of how farmers can get the work done without having to hire more people.
Compared with any human farm worker, AI-driven tools are faster, harder, and more accurate.

6. Problems farms can face while adopting AI

Considering the benefits of artificial intelligence for sustainable farming, implementing this
technology may look like a logical step for every farmer. However, there are still some serious
constraints.

Lengthy technology adoption process

Farmers need to understand that AI is only an advanced part of simpler technologies for
processing, gathering, and monitoring field data. AI requires a proper technology infrastructure

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for it to work. That’s why even those farms that already have some technology in place can find
it difficult to move forward.

This is also a challenge for software companies. They should approach farmers gradually, giving
them simpler technology first, such as an agriculture trading platform. Once farmers get used to a
less complicated solution, it will be reasonable to step it up and offer something else, including
AI features.

Lack of experience with emerging technologies

The agricultural sector in developing countries is different from the agricultural sector in
Western Europe and the US. Some regions could benefit from artificial intelligence agriculture,
but it may be hard to sell such technology in areas where agricultural technology is not common.
Farmers will most likely need help adopting it.

7. How AI should be combined with other technologies

As we’ve mentioned, AI can’t exist without other technologies already in place such as big data,
sensors, and software. Likewise, other technologies need AI for them to function properly. For
example, in the case of big data, the data itself is not particularly useful. What actually matters is
how it’s processed and whether it’s relevant.

The time, the place, and the selection criteria all determine whether AI recommendations based
on a set of data are going to be helpful. That’s why it’s also important to have good data
engineers and data analysts to make AI technology work. Let’s talk about the uses of artificial
intelligence in farming in more detail.

Big data for informed decision-making

The real goal of producing and collecting data is putting it to use. In farming, data analytics can
result in massive productivity increases and significant cost savings. By combining AI with big
data, farmers can get valid recommendations based on well-sorted real-time information on crop
needs. This, in turn, will take away the guesswork and enable more precise farming practices
such as irrigation, fertilizing, crop protection, and harvesting.

IoT sensors for capturing and analyzing data

Farmers can use IoT sensors and other supporting technology (e.g. drones, GIS, and other tools)
to monitor, measure, and store data from fields on a variety of metrics in real time. By combining
AI farming tools with IoT devices and software, farmers can get more accurate information
faster. Better data means better decisions and less time and money spent on trial and error.

Automation and robotics for minimizing manual work

Artificial intelligence combined with autonomous tractors and IoT can solve one of the most
common problems in farming: a shortage of labor. These technologies are also potentially cost-

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effective because they’re more accurate and thus reduce errors. Taken together, AI, autonomous
tractors, and IoT are the key to precision agriculture.

Another less common but rapidly growing technology is robotics. Agricultural robots are already
being used for manual work, such as picking fruits and vegetables and thinning lettuce. The
advantages of robots over farmworkers are considerable. They can work longer, are more
precise, and are less prone to error.

8. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture

The industry is turning to Artificial Intelligence technologies to help yield healthier crops,
control pests, monitor soil, and growing conditions, organize data for farmers, help with the
workload, and improve a wide range of agriculture-related tasks in the entire food supply chain.

Use of weather forecasting: With the change in climatic condition and increasing pollution it’s
difficult for farmers to determine the right time for sowing seed, with help of Artificial
Intelligence farmers can analyze weather conditions by using weather forecasting which helps
they plan the type of crop can be grown and when should seeds be sown.

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Soil and crop health monitoring system: The type of soil and nutrition of soil plays an
important factor in the type of crop is grown and the quality of the crop. Due to increasing,
deforestation soil quality is degrading and it’s hard to determine the quality of the soil.

A German-based tech start-up PEAT has developed an AI-based application called Plantix that
can identify the nutrient deficiencies in soil including plant pests and diseases by which farmers
can also get an idea to use fertilizer which helps to improve harvest quality. This app uses image
recognition-based technology. The farmer can capture images of plants using smartphones. We
can also see soil restoration techniques with tips and other solutions through short videos on this
application.

Similarly, Trace Genomics is another machine learning-based company that helps farmers to do
a soil analysis to farmers. Such type of app helps farmers to monitor soil and crop’s health
conditions and produce healthy crops with a higher level of productivity.

Analyzing crop health by drones: SkySqurrel Technologies has brought drone-based Ariel

imaging solutions for monitoring crop health. In this technique, the drone captures data from

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fields and then data is transferred via a USB drive from the drone to a computer and analyzed by
experts.

This company uses algorithms to analyze the captured images and provide a detailed report
containing the current health of the farm. It helps the farmer to identify pests and bacteria
helping farmers to timely use of pest control and other methods to take required action

Precision Farming and Predictive Analytics: AI applications in agriculture have developed

applications and tools which help farmers inaccurate and controlled farming by providing them
proper guidance to farmers about water management, crop rotation, timely harvesting, type of
crop to be grown, optimum planting, pest attacks, nutrition management.

While using the machine learning algorithms in connection with images captured by satellites
and drones, AI-enabled technologies predict weather conditions, analyze crop sustainability and
evaluate farms for the presence of diseases or pests and poor plant nutrition on farms with data
like temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and solar radiation.

Farmers without connectivity can get AI benefits right now, with tools as simple as an SMS-
enabled phone and the Sowing App. Meanwhile, farmers with Wi-Fi access can use AI
applications to get a continually AI-customized plan for their lands. With such IoT- and AI-
driven solutions, farmers can meet the world’s needs for increased food sustainably growing
production and revenues without depleting precious natural resources.

In the future, AI will help farmers evolve into agricultural technologists, using data to optimize
yields down to individual rows of plants

Agricultural Robotics: AI companies are developing robots that can easily perform multiple
tasks in farming fields. This type of robot is trained to control weeds and harvest crops at a faster
pace with higher volumes compared to humans.

These types of robots are trained to check the quality of crops and detect weed with picking and
packing of crops at the same time. These robots are also capable to fight with challenges faced
by agricultural force labor.

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AI-enabled system to detect pests: Pests are one of the worst enemies of the farmers which
damages crops.

AI systems use satellite images and compare them with historical data using AI algorithms and
detect that if any insect has landed and which type of insect has landed like the locust,
grasshopper, etc. And send alerts to farmers to their smartphones so that farmers can take
required precautions and use required pest control thus AI helps farmers to fight against pests.

9. CONLUSION
Artificial Intelligence in agriculture not only helping farmers to automate their farming but also
shifts to precise cultivation for higher crop yield and better quality while using fewer resources.

Companies involved in improving machine learning or Artificial Intelligence-based products or

services like training data for agriculture, drone, and automated machine making will get
technological advancement in the future will provide more useful applications to this sector
helping the world deal with food production issues for the growing population.

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10. References
https://www.ijert.org/research/artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture-IJERTCONV8IS05019.pdf

https://intellias.com/artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture/

https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2020/11/artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture-using-
modern-day-ai-to-solve-traditional-farming-problems/

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