Project Overview
Commodities
- Agronomic: peanuts
- Fruits: berries (blueberries), berries (brambles), berries (strawberries)
- Vegetables: beans, beets, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, celery, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), leeks, okra, sweet potatoes, tomatoes
- Additional Plants: herbs
- Animals: bees
Practices
- Crop Production: beekeeping, conservation tillage, continuous cropping, cover crops, crop rotation, fertigation, greenhouses, high tunnels or hoop houses, intercropping, irrigation, low tunnels, organic fertilizers, pollinator health, water management
- Education and Training: decision support system, extension, networking, workshop
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, business planning
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, carbon sequestration, soil stabilization
- Pest Management: biological control, chemical control, competition, cultural control, field monitoring/scouting, genetic resistance, integrated pest management, mulches - general, soil solarization, trap crops, weed ecology
- Soil Management: soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: food access and security, partnerships, sustainability measures
Proposal abstract:
Project Focus
Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven innovations are transforming farming across the globe. Farm communities are realizing benefits and challenges as new technologies reshape agriculture. How can the farming practices adapt to this unescapable digital era? How do we provide information necessary to explore specific impacts, opportunities AI brings, especially to small communities? Small farms are now gearing towards automated machinery, sensors and drones for real time data on soil conditions, weather and crop health. Can we supplement our wisdom from general knowledge and manual observations with data driven decision making? The blend of AI insights and practical experience can create new efficiencies in sustainable farming while addressing the changing labor dynamics and community roles.
Solution and approach; A myriad of tools have been developed to assist in the decision-making process, most of which are available to download and use, to test a variety of scenarios. Talks of AI solutions abound and are never clear, especially to the limited-resource grower.
The questions are-Which of these follow a sustainable model for the farmer? What is easily available and at what cost? How can farmers integrate complex systems into daily routines? Do farmers need cooperatives to afford the services? What about sustainability monitoring tools? Does AI present paths to greater income and financial security through predictive analytics? Which online decision- making tool helps producers plan ahead for the changing growing season? How do we benefit from image recognition detection on plant stress Does the Ag agent have all the answers? The Ag Agent surely needs training to be able to help.
Performance targets from proposal:
A total of fifty (50) agricultural service providers in Delaware and parts of Maryland, will be reached out to via email to be informed about professional development plans.
A total of sixty (60) Delaware Ag service providers will attend organized face to face and virtual sessions of training that will tackle relevant topics alluded to for information on available decision-making tools and innovation pertaining to recommended resilient farm activities with a focus on safe practical efficient and ethical AI systems in Ag.
Of the 60 Ag providers; 35 will organize and/or participate in follow up workshops to share the knowledge acquired. These educators will be expected to deliver extension programming that will lead to an increase in knowledge in AI in Ag to 80 growers before the conclusion of the project.
The demonstration plots at SORC and documented - virtual tour realities embedded on the website will serve as outreach tools. Over 450 viewers will be able to interact with media postings and acquire knowledge about tools that are available to a farmer for decision making expounding their knowledge of AI and Ag. A yearly estimated three hundred (300) visitors to SORC will gain knowledge of the workings of AI.