Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Grower Know-How?

One of the hottest debated tech topics in all of agriculture is whether artificial intelligence (AI) is going to enable or displace grower knowledge in the coming years and decades. Where you make your hay in this industry -- in plant production, as an input supplier, or for a technology provider -- will largely determine where you come down on this issue. The growers mostly all agree there are just too many variables to manage for artificial intelligence to ever truly replace grower knowledge, while the tech suppliers and algorithm wizards warn that this technology is already more accurate in its recommendations than many longtime growers, and its adoption is inevitable. Chris Higgins, Owner and Founder at Hort Americas, has his own thoughts on the subject. "It's one of the hot topics we're hearing about, but I would say that the majority of people don't understand how it is going to apply (to production)," he says.