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MACHINE LEARNING IN AGRICULTURE

INTRODUCTION advancement is onboard computing. Tremendous amounts of data Operations Center is at the heart of that effort. It allows farmers to John May is the president of agricultural solutions and chief information are produced through a whole suite of sensors in each pass through send data from the machines directly to the cloud. Now the farmer officer of John Deere, the Illinois-based global manufacturer of the field; for example, now you can know where every individual can share that data with any trusted advisor — an agronomist, for machinery for use in the agricultural, construction and forestry seed is in the ground. Another core technology is telematics, the example — to make better decisions on whatever production step industries. Among other responsibilities, he oversees the company’s power to send information — location and usage tracking, fleet they’re in and improve the outcome. The Operations Center is precision agriculture technology and cloud platform, which enables driver management, machine performance and diagnostics — to about seeing data, supporting collaboration in an open platform customers to collect, analyze and share data in real time. the cloud or to a mobile device, wherever you want to send the and providing farmers a way in which to direct data where they information. Telematics unlocks that. A farmer in a combine, an want and need it all, so they can gain insight and then execute WHAT CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD IN AGRICULTURE? agronomist studying the crop or a dealer can all access the data to upon it in an increasingly automated fashion. work more efficiently and solve problems before they arise. Looking out to 2050, the demand for food could double if we grow WHAT IS THE ROLE OF COMPUTER VISION IN to 9 billion-plus people on the planet. We could also see better IS ALL THE DATA FEEDING YOUR PRECISION AGRICULTURE STRATEGY? diets around the world as societies improve from an economic PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS? standpoint. There will be tremendous pressure to produce more Machine learning capabilities in combination with computer vision food than we’re producing today. We believe that precision By monitoring machines remotely as they’re in the field, we can can enhance the required in-field tasks, such as planting, protecting agriculture will be one of the key technologies to enable that maximize their functions. We also have technology that allows and harvesting. We will have computer vision technology on all increased food production. We’ll go from managing a field, or farmers and our dealers to remotely access a machine — a of our equipment in the future to unlock even more value for our maybe today a section of a field, to managing every individual combine, for example — to see what’s happening. That combine is customers through automation. Computer vision, robotics and plant to maximize its yield. Precision agriculture is a critical strategy linking back to the cloud to optimize itself. It’s giving the customer machine learning will offer an advanced set of eyes and knowledge for farmers to unlock value and productivity in a sustainable way. recommendations, such as ideal settings for harvesting, as it’s that will optimize farm machinery. John Deere recently acquired going through the field. We can do a lot of predictive analysis and Blue River Technology and its See & Spray technology, which can HOW DOES MACHINE LEARNING FIT INTO JOHN sense mechanical failures before they even happen. Being able to differentiate between a weed and a plant. On a real-time basis, using DEERE’S PRECISION AGRICULTURE STRATEGY? monitor how the machines are performing is a huge benefit to us the data you’re capturing in milliseconds with computer vision, the as a company and also a big benefit to our customers. spray will target just the weeds and dramatically reduce the amount Farming is an annual planning process based on multiple years of herbicides used in agriculture. Automation will take productivity of data. Throughout the year farmers are analyzing that data TELL US MORE ABOUT THE EFFICIENCY to a level we haven’t seen in agriculture, one where you’re making and asking themselves: What seed should I use? How should I COMPONENT THAT MACHINE LEARNING sure that a plant — whether soybean, corn, cotton or any other crop space that seed? What depth should I [plant at] to maximize the BRINGS TO THE FARM. — has an environment that allows it to grow to its fullest potential. yield? Today farmers rely on a variety of trusted advisors such as AI fits in with what we call job optimization. There are alotof agronomists to help them make the right decisions. AI will allow WHICH HAS SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL BENEFITS. farmers to sense all the variables on a real-time basis and make variables coming at farmers, whether they’re planting, spraying, WHAT IMPACT IS MACHINE LEARNING-DRIVEN decisions on the spot as they go through the field thanks to a smart combining or tilling. Each step in the production process can be PRECISION AGRICULTURE HAVING ON combine or sprayer. Farmers and their trusted advisors will get data difficult. To optimize that job, you have to look at different variables even faster. The more technology advances, and the more the data — for example, harvesting. A combine takes the grain out of the BALANCE SHEETS? can become real time, the better decisions you can make. field, but it has to work in an environment that has a lot of variability Blue River has been working on optimizing a sprayer using and challenges. So the question is how to automate this and make artificial intelligence. Based on research we’ve done, and based WHAT OTHER TECHNOLOGIES ARE AT PLAY it more precise, easier and smarter to ensure a machine works the on what Blue River has proven in the field, our customers have IN THIS MACHINE LEARNING ECOSYSTEM? best that it can, doing the job it is intended to do. the opportunity to eliminate up to 90% of the cost of what they were spending with prior technology in order to spray a field with For the last 20 years, we’ve been focused on building out a suite herbicide, for example. They’re only putting down 10% of the of technologies. One is autonomous driving capability. Today our HOW IS THE VALUE THAT COMES JOHN MAY herbicide they used to in the past. It has a big benefit to the yield of vehicles are guiding themselves through the field. This gives the FROM DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS the crop. From a revenue and cost standpoint, you’re maximizing PRESIDENT OF AGRICULTURAL SOLUTIONS farmer precision because, path after path after path, the vehicle will UNLOCKED BY THE CLOUD? yield by creating that environment where you grow the healthiest follow the same route. Geospatial reference enables farmers to know We’re building out an ecosystem that seamlessly connects AND CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, plant. So it’s a huge savings to our customers. exactly what they’ve done in a particular area. Another technology JOHN DEERE equipment, technology, people and insight. The John Deere