AI and precision agriculture offer a new era for farming

Imagine swarms of intelligent drones soaring over vast fields, capturing high-resolution images of every crop, while ground-based sensors silently monitor soil moisture, nutrient levels and environmental conditions. It’s a seamless fusion of tradition and technology — where every seed is planted with purpose and every harvest is optimized by data.

This is precision agriculture, not just the future of farming, but the future of food, sustainability and global resilience. And that future will take the spotlight at UCalgary’s upcoming Creating Tomorrow event.

The fertile ground of precision agriculture

Rising input costs, ongoing labour shortages, the growing impacts of climate change and growing food demand are straining agriculture worldwide. Precision farming offers solutions that go beyond human intuition to improve efficiency, resilience and sustainability.

It has the potential to make agriculture more efficient, faster, and ultimately, more sustainable, says Dr. Farhad Maleki, PhD, whose research explores how AI and imaging technology can transform the industry.

“In Canada, agriculture is a major industry, with around seven per cent of total GDP coming from agriculture-related fields,” says Maleki, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science. “This is a big market for innovators, as well as farmers.”

Work like that of Maleki will be the focus of Agriculture 2.0: Fuelling the Future, a showcase featured on April 12 as part of Aggie Days at Stampede Park.

The integration of smart technologies empowers farmers to make faster, data-informed decisions tailored to their land — meaning higher yields, lower costs and more efficient use of resources. This is why Canada absolutely must innovate to stay ahead, says Maleki. 

“To stay competitive, we need to invest in AI and integrate it with every industry,” he says. “We need to be a nation of builders and producers.”