You can't eat an algorithm, but data can still be useful when it comes to food production. Here's how.
Inspired by this predicament, Microsoft Research created Project FarmVibes eight years ago, with the goal of creating “farmer-augmenting” technologies like the newly released FarmVibes.AI. Inside FarmVibes.AI is a package of algorithms intended to help agriculturalists like Washington-based farmer and software engineer Andrew Nelson increase accuracy when it comes to planning, planting, harvesting, and distributing their crops.
which can digitally remove clouds from satellite images and enable farmers to detect where weeds are growing so they can apply herbicide more precisely. “SpaceEye takes radar imagery, and the signals go through clouds,” Chandra says, revealing the previously obscured land underneath. “Then we use another AI scheme we developed called partial observation GANs, and we start predicting what image is below the clouds,” Chandra adds.
“For some of our chemicals, if you apply them and there’s a freeze, you lose 40 percent of your yield,” says Nelson. ”The problem is, our weather forecasts are very general for the area, and we have rolling hills. Sometimes between the top and bottom of the hill, there can be a 10 to 20-degree difference, so having the localized DeepMC down at the crop level makes a big difference.”As for sustainability, FarmVibes.