In Florida the two economic sectors that support the start are agriculture and tourism. With this in mind, agricultural pests and diseases are of great concern to the state. A hard hit to Florida’s agriculture leads to a hard hit on the state in general. Luckily, we live in the digital age where we have literal drones to do our bidding and there are apps for anything and everything. Turns out that these digital marvels assist with protecting the state’s crops. In particular, artificial intelligence. Read on to learn all about how artificial intelligence is helping beat a wide range of pests in the agricultural field.

A.I. & Drones

Drones are handy little tools. Lightweight, remote-control aircraft with an attachable camera. While they are widely used for more inane tasks, such as video blogging, drones have incredibly diverse capabilities. Their movement and camera, when linked to specific software or programs creates incredibly precise data.

The world loses approximately one or two fifths of crops globally to disease and pests. However, A.I. is helping to correct that. When a specially programmed drone flies over fields of crops row by row, it identifies pests and disease spots from a distance. It tags the plants and problem areas, indicating if the issue is plant based, or deeper underground. The information is invaluable for industrial agriculture, where nobody has time to walk every field.

The high-definition cameras on the drones catch discrepancies as small as a single insect. This technology enables farmers to catch issues early and stop the spread of death before it becomes an epidemic.

A.I. & Underwater Technology

As farming aims to transform itself into a more sustainable industry, fish farms have grown immensely. One of the issues with fish farms is that, like crops, disease and pests spread rapidly between the fish. Fish farmers applied the same A.I technology to underwater cameras and landed fantastic results. Even under the water, the technology spots individual bugs, like sea lice, that are mere millimeters across.

These technologies have saved agricultural employees hundreds of millions of dollars. Above all, the impact of the heightened efficiency and cost saving measures lead to an immeasurable positive change.

The Lessons We Have Learned

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence has served huge agricultural operations in an immense capacity. However, the artificial intelligence technology could also be a huge help to residential pest control as well. Picture the drones swooping quickly over a lawn and confirming that no treatment is necessary that week. Just imagine the artificial intelligence high-definition cameras swiveling through the crawl space under a house.

The possibilities for future use are absolutely endless. While pest control can’t be completely automated, technology can certainly help. The artificial intelligence used in agriculture can be applied residentially to make pest control, safer, quicker, and more cost efficient for owners and customers.

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