Speaker Says AI is Transforming All Aspects of Agriculture

MANKATO — Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming everything in agriculture from the choice of seed to plant and the operation of machinery to the best feed for specific animals and how grocery store shopping habits can increase profits on food items.

“I know you’ve heard a lot about artificial intelligence and you’re going to hear a lot more,” said Teddy Bekele, chief technology officer at Land O’Lakes cooperative.

“Artificial intelligence is going to change the world.”

Bekele was named to his post in 2018 as Land O’Lakes saw a need to bring a digital transformation, using existing and emerging technology, including artificial intelligence.

He spoke Thursday evening at the GreenSeam Rural Forum at the Mankato civic center.

While mostly known for their butter, Minnesota-based Land O’Lakes has a wide range of businesses, including Purina, meatpacking, seed companies and biofuels.

Bekele said AI, which allows computers and machines to learn like humans, is increasingly gathering billions of pieces of data that is used in a variety of ways.

He noted that AI programs can track anyone carrying a smartphone or wearing a smartwatch as they move through a grocery store, collecting a variety of information on how they move around the store, what they buy and how often they buy it. That information can be used to tell grocers the best products and placement to increase their sales.

The technology is also used to bore down to individual farm fields and inform farmers on the best seed to buy for their specific environment and soil.

For farmers, the technology can also collect information from a variety of sources such as past weather records, forecasts, satellite images and more. The massive amounts of information can be analyzed to find patterns and make accurate predictions such as crop yields and market trends.

Bekele said Google, Apple and other tech giants are already delivering a variety of AI power to people’s computer and phone use.

He said artificial intelligence companies’ biggest challenge right now is making sure all the data they are collecting is good data.

Read the full article at The Free Press.