On farms all over the country, even the most traditional ones, thought is being given to the possibilities of AI. For the majority of farmers those two magic letters stand for one thing: artificial insemination.
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And no wonder, since the abbreviation has been in use since the 1940s when the first commercial artificial insemination service for cattle was offered to British farmers.
Now, slowly but surely, serious consideration is being given to the new kid on the block, artificial intelligence – the technologies that allow computers to learn, reason and solve problems.
The impact of AI on agriculture
It’s early days for this technology and, for the moment at least, artificial intelligence isn’t making much of an impact on the daily lives of most British farmers. But the way AI can transform agriculture in the near future is very much a reality in universities and research labs. My eyes were opened to the possibilities on a visit to Harper Adams University in Shropshire where cows were being automatically monitored in an innovative ‘smart’ dairy. AI was learning to recognise each individual cow and log its behaviour, eating patterns and milking efficiency. It then analysed the data to warn of any signs of illness.
Meanwhile, in my home county of Gloucestershire, work is underway to ensure that the upcoming generation of farmers isn’t left behind. In a few weeks’ time, newly arrived students at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester will start their MSc course in Agricultural Technology and Innovation. At the heart of the prospectus is AI’s role in making farming more effective, efficient, productive and robust in a world of changing weather patterns. This would have sounded like science fiction (and very far-fetched) when my dad studied at Cirencester in the 1950s, but now, 70 years on, I’m encouraged that tomorrow’s agri-entrepreneurs are being armed with the know-how to succeed in the new digital age.
How will AI affect agriculture?
Naturally, there are concerns about what all this might mean for the countless number of people who depend on farming for their livelihood. Will robotic agriculture take over; could jobs be wiped out; and will our food be grown without the human touch? Well, if the fear is a nationwide invasion of cybermen marching through the fields, then the answer is no. Much of the work on the average arable and livestock farm is carried out by very small teams and hi-tech gadgetry is nothing new.
It’s a different story with soft fruit and seasonal veg, which are notoriously tender and need an army of pickers and packers who may find themselves replaced at some point by the sort of prototype precision-robots that have been trialled on the famous strawberry farm at Tiptree in Essex.
In recent years many places have struggled to employ and retain seasonal workers, so rather than create unemployment, AI might just provide the answer to a worrying labour gap. It’s worth saying that this technology will need a whole new set of workers to produce the hardware, input new data and then install, maintain, repair and replace systems and kit. So don’t despair but do consider upskilling.
Since the Industrial Revolution, every generation of farmers has had to deal with the technological changes of the day and they have successfully adapted to survive. Who knows, AI may well turn out to be just the latest in a long line of challenges to be embraced by versatile and resilient farmers. And anything that saves me the worry of checking the weather forecast day and night during harvest season must be a good thing.
Main image: Getty
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