Artificial intelligence in agriculture

For many years, precision agriculture has largely been compartmentalized with the promise of true integration being just out of reach. Now, through the use of super-computer Watson and artificial intelligence (AI), IBM says it will draw all the disparate bits together into a whole that will usher in a more efficient, easier manner of growing crops and doing business through the agricultural chain. To explain the company's vision and what it expects in the near future, Mark Gildersleeve, vice president, Head of Business Solutions Watson Media and Weather, spoke with Delta Farm Press in late November. "As a personal story, I did a startup in precision agriculture in the late 1990s that ended up getting sold. Coming back to agriculture now, I was surprised at how little progress had been made over the last 25 years. "The problems that farmers have are still here.