AGCO Corporation's president and chief executive, Eric P. Hansotia, told Farms.com in an interview that agriculture is heading into a period of major innovation, driven by rising food demand, biofuels and new technology, with precision agriculture at its centre.
Hansotia said the long-term outlook is strong because the world's population keeps growing and consumers in many markets are eating more meat, which raises demand for feed crops. Interest in biofuels is also changing markets for some crops. Meeting that demand, he said, will mean producing more without more land, water or fertiliser.
Besides precision equipment from Fendt and its other brands, AGCO has invested heavily through PTx, which develops technology for any brand of existing machinery: automated soil sampling, planting, spraying, targeted application, autonomy, data management and water-related tools.
He pointed to Precision Planting's SymphonyVision targeted spraying, which uses cameras and AI to tell weeds from crops and triggers the right nozzle for each weed, potentially reducing herbicide use and cost. AI will also be built into future machines so that they learn from field conditions and give operators better recommendations, he said, since farms and practices vary so widely.
Beyond equipment, AGCO is using AI to help its customer-support teams diagnose machine problems faster, and it could help sales staff judge which equipment fits a farmer's existing fleet.
"We believe the next 10 years are going to be the most innovative decade in the history of agriculture," Hansotia said. Despite the difficulties farmers face now, he argued, long-term food and energy demand combined with precision agriculture and AI could help them manage risk and run more productive operations.
Photo: ERIC FORGET / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: Farms.com
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