Crop Disease Detection Using Machine Learning and Computer Vision - KDnuggets

International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR) and Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) jointly conducted a challenge where over 800 data scientists globally competed to detect diseases in crops based on close shot pictures. The objective of this challenge is to build a machine learning algorithm to correctly classify if a plant is healthy, has stem rust, or has leaf rust. Wheat rust is a devastating plant disease affecting many crops, reducing yields and affecting the livelihoods of farmers and decreasing food security across Africa. The disease is difficult to monitor at a large scale, making it difficult to control and eradicate. An accurate image recognition model that can detect wheat rust from any image will enable a crowd-sourced approach to monitor crops. The imagery data came from a variety of sources.