AI in the Vineyard

AI is the current tech buzzword. Either you see endless possibilities or you see Skynet from the Terminator movies. It's coming to the farm field and vineyard soon. 

John Deere autonomous crop sprayer
Looks a little creepy  :)
image from innoseta.eu

John Deere

John Deere developed a commercially successful steel plow in 1837 and founded his namesake company. Things have changed for Deere & Company. For decades, they have been spearheading high-tech in the field, notably as an early GPS pioneer. Today they're getting into driveless tractors that can work day and night, machines that can target weeds for chemical spraying, and phone apps for the farmer.

AI in the Field

From better forests to better corn to better livestock along with time and money savings is the promise of AI and automation. The owner of a strawberry field will get a phone alert telling them that a block of fruit is ready to pick, there's a section that's showing water stress, or there are moles in a particular area. There are automated machines coming that will pick the strawberries. This has been under development for several years. First, there was a machine the pickers laid on and were moved in assembly line fashion down the row of strawberry plants. This avoided the hard work of bending over each plant. AI will completely automate the task. Picture a robot with AI and solar panels moving down the rows and doing all the work while someone monitors from an air-conditioned building.

In the Vineyards

Cameras mounted in driverless vehicles will be the eyes of the grape growers. AI will be able to recognize problems. For now, keeping track of watering needs, pests, disease, or anything else requiring human intervention requires a knowledgeable person to walk through a vineyard looking for issues. Soon, AI will see the problems and will even be able to count grape clusters to see where thinning or balancing may be required. There are probably ways AI will be useful we haven't even thought of yet.

Robot grass/weed cutter
developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency
image from drive.tech/en