Ananth Kalyanaraman, director the AgAID Institute and a computer science professor at the Washington State University, was part of a panel tackling AI and agriculture.
Washington farmers grow more than 300 different crops, many of which are high value, important from a food-security perspective and require significant labor and irrigation, Kalyanaraman said.
The WSU researcher called out some example projects that are applying AI to ag:
- Using neural networks to predict the ability of grapes to withstand cold temperatures and to forecast the timing of grape plant growth and development.
- Developing models and forecasting on water availability for crops — which is more precise than knowing snowpack and rainfall. The work includes creating a digital twin for the region’s watersheds to provide long-term irrigation insights.