SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Nearly every industry across the globe is working to see how artificial intelligence can play a role in their future. That includes agriculture, where a new AI advisor was just released.
In tonight’s Your Money Matters, how the Farmer’s Business Network is hoping AI can help area farmers.
Most people have heard of Siri and may ask Alexa plenty of questions throughout the day, but now there’s a new AI assistant specifically designed for farmers.
“Ask Norm any question about agronomy, crop protection, soil health, equipment maintenance and he’ll do his best to give you a prompt and accurate response,” Kit Barron, the Head of Data Science and Analytics at the Farmer’s Business Network said.
The Farmer’s Business Network debuted Norm to their members two weeks ago.
“What we’ve seen is sustained engagement from hundreds and hundreds of FBN members, really detailed agronomy questions and it’s been fascinating to watch,” Barron said. “One of the most pressing questions people have been asking Norm lately is about soil conditions for planting.”
Norm is working off of FBN’s vast database of agricultural information, giving farmers an easily accessible resource.
“If you think about these reference books and all of the manuals you need to have for every piece of equipment, all the different seed catalogs…who wants to flip through hundreds of pages of information and the internet is not always great at being able to pop that relevant answer up quickly,” Barron said.
While NORM is still in his early testing phase…
“Every time we identity something that’s not quite right, we’re working behind the scenes to fix it,” Barron said.
…FBN’s software team is continuing to work on his development to make NORM an easy expert to reach out to for crop chemistry, seed genetics, climatology, equipment maintenance, grain marketing and any other area farmers may need information.
“It’s hard to be experts in all of those areas at once. We felt like having a one stop shop for expertise in all of those different areas could be a real boon to many of our farmer members,” Barron said.
Right now Norm is only available to FBN members and can be reached by typing a question on their website.
Norm is named after Dr. Norman Borlaug, an agronomist who won the Nobel peace prize in 1970 for increasing the food supply thanks to his advances in agriculture.
