Melba Crawford and her graduate student, Claudia Aviles Toledo, don’t look like farmers, nor do they talk like farmers. Yet the third member of their project team, Mitch Tuinstra, a Purdue University agronomy professor and corn breeder, believes the work he is doing with these two Purdue civil engineers could open doors to quicker development of improved corn hybrids. The driver behind this opportunity is artificial intelligence, better known simply as AI.

The trio recently proved that they could teach a computer model to study remote sensing images of cornfields and data, and predict corn yields accurately. In technical terms, they developed and successfully tested a “recurrent neural network,” which is the model that teaches computers to process data using long short-term memory.

Unmanned vehicles collect data that would require tons of manual labor taking measurements in the field. Hydrospectral cameras and Lidar systems collect more than visual data. Together, this information paints an accurate picture of how plants react to environmental stress.

“This is one of the first AI models to add plant genetics to the story of yield in multiyear, large plot-scale experiments,” Tuinstra says. “Now, plant breeders can see how different traits react to varying conditions, which will help them select traits for future, more resilient varieties. Growers can also use this to see which varieties might do best in their region.”

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More AI-powered agronomic solutions

Syngenta and Taranis entered an official collaboration to bring AI-driven agronomic productivity and conservation-focused innovation to U.S. ag retail partners. Taranis uses Ag Assistant technology and its AI-driven intelligence platform to provide leaf-level threat detection of weeds, insects, diseases and nutrient deficiencies. Compared with retailers relying on human scouts, this system will be faster, more comprehensive and more reliable.

“Having an instantaneous understanding of the issues and the optimal solution creates efficiencies and opportunities the industry has never seen before,” says Opher Flohr, CEO of Taranis. “This collaboration is a significant step forward in driving the AI revolution for production agriculture.”

Learn more at Syngenta.com and goodgrowthplan.com.  

Another collaboration

BASF and Acadian Plant Health announced a collaboration to develop innovative solutions and market climate-resilient products for crop protection. You know what BASF is and what it does. What is Acadian Plant Health, and why is BASF pursuing a collaboration with this company?

Related:How to pinpoint fungicide applications next season

Acadian Plant Health is a division of Acadian Seaplants Limited — the largest independent marine plant-harvesting, cultivation and extraction company in the world. Acadian is committed to launching patented innovative technology with a focus on sustainability and regenerative agriculture. Its products are used in over 100 crops in more than 80 countries.

Marko Grozdanovic with BASF notes that by incorporating Acadian’s unique biostimulants with existing products from BASF, together they can provide crop care inputs that complement each other and help farmers become more sustainable. Visit acadianplanthealth.com or basf.com.

Longer-lasting biologicals

Syensqo just introduced technology that should help biological products stay viable while in storage for longer periods of time. In fact, it is so much of a game-changer that spokespersons call it a technology disruptor for biological-based formulations.

The life extender will be marketed as AgRhea LifeXten.d Plus, a ready-to-use, all-in-one solution for formulations of microorganisms, including fungi. Visti syensqo.com.