{"id":32764,"date":"2018-11-13T15:29:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T20:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/data-the-farmers-new-edge\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T15:29:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T20:29:54","slug":"data-the-farmers-new-edge","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/data-the-farmers-new-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"Data \u2013 The Farmer\u2019s New Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Nations estimates that the world population will reach 9.7 billion in 2050, an increase of over 2 billion from the current population of 7.3 billion [1]. Farming practices are swiftly developing to feed this growing population. However, there are growing concerns over some of these practices such as wide-spread herbicides usage [2]. Companies are introducing innovative technologies in the production of food commodities while at the same time improving sustainable farming practices.<\/p>\n

Deere & Company (known to most by its brand name, John Deere) is looking to be a first mover in applying machine learning to agricultural practices. In September 2017, Deere & Company purchased Blue River Technology, a California-based company that applies machine learning to optimize crop spraying technology and equipment [3]. A growing concern in the agriculture industry is the continued widespread use of herbicides. Herbicides are used broadly and widely on farmland as farmers are not able to specifically target weeds and must apply herbicides to the entire crop. This promotes and requires widespread herbicide use which increases the cost of crop inputs for farmers, creates herbicide resistance in crops, and contributes to the growing health concerns involving toxicity of herbicides [4]. Through Blue River\u2019s See & Spray platform, machine learning is used to identify and spray weeds, not crops. See & Spray uses visual cues to distinguish between weeds and crops, and, if it identifies a weed, applies an appropriate amount of herbicide specifically to the weed, avoiding surrounding crops. See & Spray also gathers data as it visually assesses fields to continually improve the overall dataset available for assessment. Blue River claims that See & Spray can reduce herbicide use by up to 90% [5],[6]. Deere & Company intends to integrate this technology into its farming equipment in the future, helping drive a new wave of \u201csmart\u201d farming equipment that will enable farmers to produce crops more efficiently [7].<\/p>\n