How Machine Learning and Big Data Are Driving Progress in Indoor Agriculture - AgFunderNews

Editor's Note: Malika Cantor is a partner at Comet Labs, a venture capital firm and research lab focused on artificial intelligence, and Micki Seibel is head of product at Orange Silicon Valley, part of French telecommunications giant Orange. The two organizations recently partnered on the publication of a report entitled: Bringing Digital Intelligence to Indoor Farming -- urban agriculture in the age of AI. Here Cantor and Seibel write about some of the report's key takeaways and data points. Ability to move production closer to the point of consumption Opportunity to drop genetic traits focused on outdoors -- pest resistance, drought tolerance, etc. -- in favor of traits for nutrient density and flavor. Higher nutrient density and less food spoilage due to shorter distance traveled Opportunity to broaden the crop portfolio as economies of scale are reached with current crops -(mostly leafy greens, cannabis, and vine crops like tomatoes).