AI Comes to the Rescue of Cattle Ranchers

In Canada, artificial intelligence is now helping farmers across the country to increase yields, save costs and minimize environmental damage.

Instead of spreading fertilizer across acres of fields or spraying entire orchards with herbicides, they can now target their efforts for maximum effect, according to The Epoc Times.

SomaDetect Inc. of Fredericton, New Brunswick, is preparing to deliver commercial systems this fall that will test milk and use AI to provide insights to maximize a farmer’s profitability; dairy farmers monitor their herds through the “internet of cows.”

Sensors installed at each milking stall identify each cow, test their milk and quickly provide farmers metrics such as protein and fat counts, indicators of disease, hormones that manage reproduction and antibiotic issues.

“A lot of farmers have been demanding better technology, demanding better products for a long time, and I think AI is a huge part of how they’re going to get that,” the company said.

AI researchers say its use in agriculture is attracting global interest because of the pressing need to feed a growing global population amid increasing water shortages and a changing climate.

A great example is how a combination of drones and AI technology have helped to alleviate stress on California pistachio and almond crops by watering only where it’s needed, said David MacMillan, CEO of Toronto-based Deveron UAS, which is building one of North America's largest network of drones.

In a place like California, where your water costs are more than $1,000 an acre, there’s all these different value propositions.