Expert Consultation on the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Precision Agriculture
Precision Agriculture is a modern farming concept that uses information technology to ensure that the crops are well maintained and to optimize their health and overall productivity. It is an emerging trend within the farming community and is helping them make the right decisions around the production processes. It is a continuous process which is stretching the bounds of the production capacity of a farmer. It also facilitates sustainable food production and climate resistance.
The agriculture industry is undergoing a lot of disruptive innovation due to the integration of high-end technologies such as artificial intelligence. The agriculture experts believe precision agriculture is helping to yield many benefits, such as improving food quality, increasing productivity, etc.
The agriculture industry has always been the backbone of our economy. Factors that are propelling innovation in the agriculture industry are climate change, population growth, and food security concerns across the globe.
Expert consultation reveals that the primary factors driving the growth of the precision agriculture market are the adoption of new precision farming technologies for boosting agricultural production followed by government initiatives to adopt modern agricultural techniques. This methodology is allowing a substantial cost-cutting in the farming industry.
Growing market penetration of smartphones is playing a prominent factor in the proliferation of precision agriculture as smartphones play a significant role in bridging the gap between end-users and advanced technology equipment.
Expert survey shows that significant factors restricting the growth of this market are the requirement of high investments in R&D and lack of technical knowledge among farmers.
Significant challenges faced by the precision agriculture experts comprise of lack of standardization coupled with loopholes in the management of data in the market.
Expert network groups analyse that the factors promoting the growth of this market comprise of rising applications of drones/ UAVs in farming insights coupled with the integration of smartphones, IoT, artificial intelligence, and software applications.
Artificial intelligence experts say that continuous shifts in the weather patterns along with an increase in temperature, rapid changes in rain pattern and groundwater density is affecting crop production. Thus, the deployment of artificial intelligence in predictive analytics promotes improvements in productivity, cost-cutting, and an increase in profits for farmers.
Yield monitoring, field mapping, crop scouting, weather tracking & forecasting, irrigation management, and others are the primary application areas of precision agriculture.
According to the estimation by a market research professional , the precision agriculture market is expected to surpass the market value to approx. USD12 Bn by 2025 growing at a CAGR of 27% during the forecasted years 2019 to 2025, owing to an increase in the application of artificial intelligence in this market.
Expert’s insights reveal that IBM has expanded its AI-based platform for precision agriculture. This platform is customized to promote new crops and regional variations, which enables food security for the rapidly booming population across the globe.
It is the era of digitization and competition, where the agriculture industry is also booming rapidly as nowadays, farmers are also getting educated and getting specialization in agriculture. Agriculture experts say that now the farmers are not traditional, but they also cultivate farming data through drones, artificial intelligence, IoT, and others.
The ongoing integration of artificial intelligence and automation in the area of agriculture is remolding this industry by connecting experts who can guide for less friction and fewer obstacles for the farmers and crop decisions.
The Asia Pacific region is estimated to grow at the fastest rate during the foretasted years owing to the continuous increase in the population in this region, coupled with the demand for surgical foods across the globe.