Artificial intelligence helps farmers spot diseased corn and soybean faster.

His team provides crop protection services such as fertilizers and herbicides to farmers across Illinois. After a year-long test of a variety of new technologies, Evergreen FS found artificial intelligence could identify trouble, such as fungus growth and water shortages, in corn and soybean crops weeks before the naked eye would ever realize it. The tech, which comes from startup Ceres Imaging, offers farmers an AI analysis of photos taken from planes flying several thousand feet above fields. Previously, the technology was generally limited to orchards and vineyards. After images are taken, Ceres provides maps that highlight trouble spots on farms. Free's team visited the marked areas, but couldn't detect any issues with their own eyes.