Dr Harish Devaraj from the School of Engineering Teaching and Research at the University of Waikato and Dr Shaleeza Sohail from the School of Information and Physical Sciences at the University of Newcastle are working together to combine artificial intelligence (AI) and federated learning to empower farmers to enhance productivity and sustainability.
Harnessing Advanced Technology for Farming
The project to develop a AI-based system that collects and analyses agricultural data on plant and soil health will help farmers make informed decisions that can maximise yield and financial return.
“The aim is to use AI to organise and report on data, and provide recommendations in real-time, rather than send raw information to a centralized server and wait for a response,” says Dr Harish Devaraj. “The data will also be secure and only accessible to the farm owner.”
Engaging with Farmers
“We’re leveraging existing technologies to make them accessible to farmers with limited resources,” says Dr Devaraj. “The solutions are already out there, but our challenge is to apply them effectively to places that lack high-end infrastructure.”
The project also involves using drones to take photographs as an additional source of information. “If we identify an issue in a particular area, the drone can swoop in with a hyperspectral camera to take images that pinpoint what the problem is,” says Dr Shaleeza Sohail.
As the project progresses, the researchers are keen to test and refine the technology on farms.
“We have farmers who are eager to collaborate with us,” says Dr Sohail, highlighting a partnership with a food industry group that practices vertical farming—a system of cultivating crops in stacked layers instead of a single surface like a field.