Grower Panel: U.S. producers relay what they need from AI to increase their efficiency and margins but also barriers to adopting that technology. Producers, from left, Lacey Vardeman, Slaton, Texas, Todd Straley, Plainview, Texas, and Travis Senter, Keiser, Arkansas.Shelley E. Huguley
There’s a fairly wide gap in both culture and knowledge base between the scientists who develop precision agriculture technology and the farmers who utilize it.
These groups must collaborate to feed a hungry and growing population, especially given water concerns and climate change. “We need to use any technology that can help us meet those needs,” says Ali Fares, Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture Conference co-chair.
Ali Fares, conference co-chair, right, gives the microphone to Binayak P. Mohanty, Texas A&M University regents professor & CoALS chair in Hydrologic Engineering & Sciences, during a morning session Q&A. (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)
Texas A&M’s recent Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Natural Resources conference tried to span that gap by bringing the two groups together. More than 300 attendees heard from tech and university leaders, and a grower panel who shared pressing needs and concerns over artificial intelligence.
The panel was particularly beneficial for students, according to Seth Murray, the event’s other co-chair.
“What we heard from that panel, over and over, is that they want the easy button. AI can certainly help with that,” he says, highlighting the importance of letting students hear directly from farmers because researchers don’t always understand farmers. The opposite is also true.
Seth Murray, Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture Conference co-chair.(Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)
Murray intimately understands this dichotomy. When he’s not teaching at the College Station university, he manages a farm about 15 minutes from campus. Even though he teaches about emerging farm technologies and helped organize the AI conference, the tools he uses on his own land are decidedly not tech-forward.