Ranch and Country Summer 2024 Quarterly

A I I nto A griculture An Unavoidable Eventual ity

Byron Grant Broker/Associate Century 21 Hometown Realty 805.441.2560 cell 805.481.4297 office DRE #00985985 www.byron-grant.com • byron-grant@c21home.com • 102 Bridge Street, Arroyo Grande CA 93420

spreaders and harvesters, and more. At the heart of AI is information. AI can tell farmers soils conditions, irrigation needs, weather patterns, and market demand for products. AI can be used to match seed choice to soils. AI can help farmers adopt regenerative agricultural practices. On the one hand, AI technologies could increase

intensive! According to the CNBC report, a LaserWeeder can improve crop yields and save farmers up to 80% of expensive weed management costs that use herbicides. Also, in that herbicidal chemicals can damage topsoil, and destroy the enzyme-rich soil microbiology, the LaserWeeder is environmentally friendly.

The advent of the internet brought the dot-com era in the ‘90’s. Then it was all about the cloud . And these days, AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the talk of the town - fueling the stock market, transforming the way we invent things, and enabling brilliant problem solving with just a hand-held device. The concept of artificial intelligence has been around for decades.

yields, increase the health quality of crops, and expand GDP for countries that use these technologies. On the other hand, AI technologies could replace workers and cause high levels of unemployment and hardship for those employees in these areas. The solution must

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C o mp u t e r i z e d intelligence was integral to the Star Trek series of the early 1960’s and represented by “Hal” in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968.) And for years now AI has been engaged in the everyday task of a simple “google search.”

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According to Carbon Robotics website (www.carbonrobotics.com), the outstanding features of the LaserWeeder are: it can kill up to 300,000 weeds per hour, it can operate day or night, it can operate in all kinds of soil, and, depending on use, its cost can be recovered in one to three years. Traditional farm equipment makers are moving into various AI powered technologies. Deere has acquired several robotics companies - Bear Flag Robotics and Blue River Technology , which could make Deere the “Tesla” of farm vehicles, with a driverless tractor! However, this trend appears to be in a very early stage and many years away from being mainstream. But AI powered robotics technologies will continue to enter the farm industry with AI empowered robotic fertilizer

be educational programs for those workers impacted by the inevitable AI into agriculture. Farm workers can learn alternative agricultural- related activities that utilize AI technologies. Education is the key to the AI transition on all fronts. Artificial intelligence itself is inherently a learning process. An intelligent computer is one that learns and expands its ability and what it knows through processing data input. Which is exactly what the human mind does in all educational processes. AI is coming to all walks of life in a big way. We can’t hold back the title wave. We may as well embrace AI as a force that can help us realize more of our human potential, and one that we can choose to use to serve the greatest good. -- RC Editor

But lately AI is stepping into center stage for the most fundamental operations - the way we shop, learn, travel, get medical care. And it is becoming integral to agricultural practices. Carbon Robotics , a start-up company based in Washington state, was recently named to CNBC’s top 50 Disruptor list. The company’s product, LaserWeeder , usesAI powered lasers toeliminate unwanted weeds, while leaving desired agricultural growth intact. The LaserWeeder uses computer vision and AI deep learningmodels to identify weeds, and then zap the weeds at their growth center. The weeds then become organic matter that can actually nourish the standing crop! Use of herbicides to manage weeds is expensive and labor

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