At a recent AGM of the Quebec Farmers’ Association, the subject of AI (artificial intelligence) came up. As I looked around the room, the majority in attendance had that deer-in-the-headlights look on their face. After we had talked about AI for a few minutes, I realized that most farmers have cell phones that can tell time, keep track of our lives on their calendar, wake us up in the morning, remind us of future events just in time, remind us of our wife’s birthday, contain a compass, have a built in GPS that is updated about road conditions and the best way to get wherever we ask, give us the markets in real time, and answer most questions that we ask.
That little smartphone can translate almost any language in real time as we talk into it and can relay the message in whatever other language we chose to someone at the other end of the line. Many cars and trucks have GPS as standard equipment. You can now track the location of cellphones, transport trucks and employees that work at different locations. When traveling, you can get the price of fuel anywhere in North America before you leave and anywhere along the way that has cell service.
Robotic milkers for dairy have been used for over 25 years and have improved every year. Cows can be identified by electronic ear tags, neck transponders, leg transponders, and maybe soon with a small chip under the skin that allow cows to be identified by the milking system, by walking by an identifying panel of a handheld wand or by Wi-Fi anywhere in the barn. All information gathered can be recorded in the barn computer or on your cellphone – every time an animal is sick, distressed, has an upset tummy, was treated, had her feet trimmed, every heat or breeding, calving, and a total genealogical history is stored.
As many milk cows are graded to record what traits are excellent or less so, as well as the amount of milk produced, fat content of that milk, information about protein content and other milk solids like lactose are stored in the computer. Each of those same traits can be improved or made worse by different sires available from all over the world. AI can now match up a cow with the best choice in a bull to improve the calves that she produces. Farmers can also select semen that give only heifer calves. Lighting can be turned on or off by the use of timers and or sunshine to provide animals with just the right length of daylight – 16 hours for laying hens and milk cows. By using an app on your phone, you can take a picture of a weed, and the phone will tell you the name of that weed.
You likely noticed fields of corn or other crops that are planted in very straight rows. Those fields were probably planted with a planter mounted on a GPS-equipped tractor. Many new tractors, sprayers, combines, forage harvesters, and now one-row autonomous corn planters are equipped with a GPS so they can work at night as well as in the day. Fields can be sampled with the use of a GPS so a sample can be taken on each one-hectare plot. Then a map can be prepared by AI which lets the farmer know which part of the field needs more or less of certain important nutrients, organic matter, or other soil amendments.
Many new fertilizer spreaders and corn planters now have variable rate application technology which is a GPS using a soil map prepared using field data, yield data, and best economic rate, all put together using a layered mapping technique. Some newer combines and forage harvesters now have on-board electronic labs to measure yield, moisture, protein, starch, sugars, as well as both acid and neutral detergent fiber.
A very big question being asked today is: who has access to all this information that this new technology generates? Is it the people that invented it? Is it the company that sold the machine? Is it the person paid to harvest the crop? Is it the farmer? Or is it everyone? Can the company that sold the machine use the information to buy up the best land in the country as an investment? Much of this new technology is not owned by the farmers that buy the use of it. When it breaks down, even if the farmer has the computer skills to repair it, it has to be repaired by the company that sold it.
I can still remember when the yearly bill for that old telephone with the separate speaker you held in your hand and the mouthpiece attached solidly to the wall was only $9. That was when Grandpa sold a quart of milk for five cents. Prices have gone up! Today, you could be on vacation in Italy and use your cell phone to check the temperature of your house in Quebec or check to see if your student is at college or down at the bar three blocks away. Maybe when we were kids, we wouldn’t have wanted that much surveillance.
At that Quebec farmers’ meeting last week, we decided that most of us needed a short course – A.I. 101 – which we thought should be available all across Quebec in English for a start and probably in French too.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
