Artificial Intelligence In “Agriculture”, 

Is It Ehical?

Anil Kumar Kummari

Today, the agricultural sector has grown into a highly competitive and globalised industry, where farmers and other actors have to consider local climatic and geographic aspects as well as global ecological and political factors in order to guarantee economical survival and sustainable production. Feeding a growing world population asks for continuous increases in food production, but arable land remains a limited resource. New requests for bio energy or changing diet preferences put additional strains on agricultural production, while settlement and transport consume increasing shares of land. Expected and observable changes in global climate, shifting rainfall patterns, global warming, droughts, or the increasing frequency and duration of extreme weather events endanger traditional production areas and bring new risks and uncertainties for global harvest yields. To cope with these challenges, Agriculture requires a continuous and sustainable increase in productivity and efficiency on all levels of agricultural production, while resources like water, energy, fertilizers etc. need to be used carefully and efficiently in order to protect and sustain the environment and the soil quality of the arable land. The complexity of the challenges are increased by other short-term events, which are difficult to predict, such as epidemics, financial crisis, or price volatility for agricultural raw materials and products.

Agriculture is one of the most difficult fields to contain for the purpose of statistical quantification. Even within a single field, conditions are always changing from one section to the next. There is unpredictable weather, changes in soil quality, and the ever-present possibility that pests and disease may pay a visit. Growers may feel their prospects are good for an upcoming harvest, but until that day arrives, the outcome will always be uncertain. 

So, what is slowing the progress of drones in agriculture? Beyond the barriers to widespread drone adoption in all industries—safety of drone operations, privacy issues, and insurance-coverage questions—the biggest agricultural concern is the type and quality of data that can be captured. To address this, the industry will push for more sophisticated sensors and cameras, as well as look to develop drones that require minimal training and are highly automated. There are incredible opportunities for AI in agriculture.  The problems are that most folks do not understand how to deploy AI in meaningful or cost-effective ways in agriculture.  I have found that there is a vast knowledge void between farmers and technologists that means that technology is poorly applied on one side, or farmers resist adoption on the other side because they do not understand the how it is meaning full. The rising demand for agriculture robots on a global scale is attributed to the staggering rate of growth in the world population and a relative reduction in the average available agriculture workforce. This is a direct consequence of an increase in urban migration. Agriculture robots are expected to replace human labour and can thus help overcome the scarcity of physical labour.

The trouble with farming at present is that it is still something of a gamble, with a number of troublesome variables such as the weather, commodity prices, and fuel prices in play. However, AI cannot give the accurate comparison with the humans. It eliminates the workforce in Agriculture, which is highly dependent sector. Until GM crops are not be adopted widely because of against nature. We have to point out that AI in agriculture is also against nature. For the developed countries, it is up to an Ethical. Nevertheless, for developing and under developing countries it is going to be challenging factor as unethical.

References:-

ü https://agfundernews.com/the-challenges-for-artificial-intelligence-in-agriculture.html

ü https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13218-013-0275-y

Artificial Intelligence In “Agriculture”, Is It

 Considerable For Future Generation?

Anil Kumar Kummari

When Norman Borlaug, the father of the green revolution, won the Nobel Prize in 1970, the Nobel Committee remarked, "more than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world." Borlaug’s introduction of disease resistant high-yielding crop varieties and advanced agricultural practices was a game changer, as agriculture yields increased tremendously and helped save millions from starvation.

Half a century after Borlaug received the Nobel Prize, we live in a world where yield growth is plateauing and the total land under cultivation is decreasing. Changing weather patterns and water availability is altering productivity in certain agricultural regions. The world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. China and India, the two largest countries in the world, have populations totalling around one billion. In four years, by 2022, India is predicted to have the largest population in the world, surpassing China.

This means we need new ways to grow food that are smarter and helps regulate our use of land, water and energy in order to feed the planet and avoid a global food crisis.

However, why AI is necessary in Agriculture?

Experts predicting that artificial intelligence will provide the answer by the introducing 

Image recognition and insight (Drones, Sensors)

Agricultural drones scan fields and Provide new ways of increasing crop yields through in-depth field analysis, long-distance crop spraying and high-efficiency crop monitoring and seeding or analyse plant health. Farm activities can become much more effective when drone data, IoT and computer vision technologies join forces to optimize strategies. Very recently, Aerialtronics, manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems, partnered with IBM to bring the IBM Watson IoT Platform and the Visual Recognition APIs to commercial drones in order to capture images, analyze them in near-real time, identify areas of concern and take actions. These artificial intelligence systems will save time, increase safety and reduce potential human error while improving effectiveness. Agriculture could benefit greatly out of it.

Determine the best options to maximise return on crops

The use of cognitive technologies in agriculture could help determine the best crop choice or the best hybrid seed choices for a crop mix adapted to various objectives, conditions and better suited for farm’s needs. Watson can use diverse capabilities to understand how seeds react to different soil types, weather forecasts and local conditions. By analysing and correlating information about weather, type of seeds, types of soil or infestations in a certain area, probability of diseases, data about what worked best, year to year outcomes, marketplace trends, prices or consumer needs, farmers can make decisions to maximize return on crops.

 Automated irrigation systems

Automated irrigation systems are designed to utilise real-time machine learning to constantly maintain desired soil conditions to increase average yields. Not only does this require significantly less labour and have the potential to drive down production costs, but with 70% of the world’s freshwater used for agriculture, the ability to better manage how it’s used will also have a huge impact on the world’s water supply.

Driver less tractors

Combining ever-more sophisticated software with ‘off-the-shelf’ technologies such as sensors, radars and GPS systems, farmers will soon be able to hand this century-old machine over to robots. With autonomous harvests, farmers will reduce pressures on an already strained workforce and allow more acreage to be worked for longer times.

Crop health monitoring

Similarly, conventional crop health monitoring methods are incredibly time-consuming and are generally categorical in nature. In comparison, companies developing automated detection and analysis technologies – such as hyperspectral imaging and 3D laser scanning – will substantially increase the precision and volume of data collected. With the ability for microscopic data collection, farmers will be able to produce diagnostics specific to individual plots or even single plants.

1) Case Study

NatureSweet, which grows tomatoes on six farms in the United States and Mexico, is using artificial intelligence to better control pests and diseases in its greenhouses.

Farms are increasingly using technology to grow crops, from task-tracking systems that monitor watering and seeding to drones that capture aerial images.

So far, NatureSweet's weekly harvests have grown 2% to 4%. This may seem modest, but the results makes a big difference when growing millions of pounds of tomatoes a year. NatureSweet installed 10 cameras in greenhouse ceilings. The cameras continuously take photos of the crops below. Prospera's software has been trained to recognize trouble, such as insect infestations or dying plants. 
NatureSweet has also experimented with using the cameras to forecast when plants are ready to be harvested.

The cameras from Prospera monitor the plants 24/7 and provide instant feedback.

Adrian Almeida, chief innovation officer at NatureSweet, believes artificial intelligence will eventually improve his greenhouses tomato yields by 20%.

Agricultural AI or AgriAI can revolutionize the traditional agricultural practices, which are currently being implemented. Farmers can grow multiple crops in the same amount of space and can monitor all the crops with the least effort. This will increase the crop production and variety thus helping the farmers and the state. Anyway increasing AI will decreases workforce in agriculture, which is highly employed sector. For the developed countries, it is meaning full to adopt AI in Agriculture. However, for the developing and under developing countries it will increase the GDP, Unemployment and Economic Imbalance.

Refences:-

1.     http://www.thewp-group.co.uk/Is_Artificial_Intelligence_the_future_of_farming.html

2.     http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/26/technology/future/farming-ai-tomatoes/index.html

Jobs Vs Future Generations

“Fear of Artificial Intelligence”

Anil Kumar Kummari

Scientist Stephen Hawking told the BBC that he feared that the development of “full artificial intelligence” could end the human race. In this context, we could lose jobs and future should be unpredictable. Very few people can grow economically. In addition, wealth could be Undistributed, it cause economic imbalance. However, increasing technology is necessary for future development. Self-driving trucks promised by Tesla’s Elon Musk become widely available if we consider the lower risk of accidents; self-driving trucks seem like an ethical choice. So, can we generate jobs for future generation?

A recent survey held by global professional services firm Genpact in US, UK and Australia about current job role vs Future Workforce. Forty per cent of all workers surveyed indicate they would be comfortable working with robots within the next three years. While only 28 percent of all respondents worry about AI's threat on their current jobs, most (58 per cent) fear AI's impact on their children's and future generations' career opportunities. Only 10 per cent of people surveyed strongly agreed that AI threatens their jobs today. Nearly everyone (90 per cent of respondents) believes younger generations need new skills to succeed as AI becomes more prevalent at the workplace.

“Artificial intelligence brings a seismic shift in the future of work – making some roles obsolete and enhancing others, while at the same time, creating new jobs, and even spawning new professions,” said Sanjay Srivastava, chief digital officer, Genpact. “Our research shows that employees want and need additional skills to embrace these opportunities – and companies must respond. Businesses that will succeed in this new world will be those that ramp up fast to invest in the right AI tools and upskill their workforce.”

According to Gartner 2017, AI is expected to eliminate 1.8 million jobs globally.

However, starting 2020, AI will be a positive job creator creating 2.3M jobs. Says James Agarwal, managing director of executive search company BTI Consultants/Persolkelly: Technology enhances our abilities to deliver more and better if used properly and its role is vital for winning the war for 'quality' talent." There is a need for building new skills and up-skilling for all kinds of people as existing skills become redundant." However, Employees want and need additional skills to embrace the opportunities – and companies must respond. Businesses that will succeed in this new world will be those that ramp up fast to invest in the right AI tools and upskill their workforce.”

Reference:-

1.     https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/artificial-intelligence-not-to-kill-jobs-yet-survey/articleshow/61654375.cms

2.     http://www.cxotoday.com/story/ai-will-not-take-away-all-jobs-study/

“Jobs Don’t Go Away Because Of Technology; Jobs Are 

Created Because Of Technology.”

   

Anil Kumar Kummari

The re-emerging technologies such as AI, Internet of Things, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) were all part of the change and they will converge to make things better for humans. Vijay Chandru, Chairman of Strand Life Sciences, talked about the opportunities through IT-biotech linkages. On the decision-making capabilities of AI in healthcare, he had this to say: “At no point will that be allowed to happen. Advances in AI will only increase the productivity and effectiveness of the system.”

Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India, said that new-age chips can mimic the human mind and that Intel is working on revolutionary developments in AI. “AI has been a part of Intel, along with several other companies for almost half a century, in terms of using AI for hiring, safety” Shifting the focus to driverless cars, Kamal Bali, MD of Volvo India, emphasised on the much-needed push for electric vehicles. He then went on to trace the opportunities, possibilities, and challenges for the Indian auto sector of the future. Kamal also has a unique outlook on the labour market of India. “We have enough manpower in India. Places to network, however, are limited and we must focus on handling change,”

A key argument made by Nivruti in the CEO Roundtable at the Bengaluru Tech Summit was that “jobs don’t go away because of technology; jobs are created because of technology.”

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director of biotechnology company Biocon said due to the convergence of AI, life sciences, IT and data analytics “digital health” is turning into a big opportunity. She said the use of sensors and cameras is becoming very rampant when it comes to diagnosing healthcare problems. “I am very pleased to see a number of startups in these areas.

However, Employees want and need additional skills to embrace the opportunities – and companies must respond. Businesses that will succeed in this new world will be those that ramp up fast to invest in the right AI tools and upskill their workforce.”

Reference:-

1)    https://yourstory.com/2017/11/artificial-intelligence-will-complement-human-effort-bengaluru-tech-summit/