Agricultural businesses are faced with the challenge of feeding a growing world population while reducing the environmental impact and improving efficiencies. In this case example, we look at how John Deer is bringing AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine vision to the challenge.

1. 10 Billion People
To Help Feed
AI And Machine Vision
John Deere Uses
The Amazing Ways

2. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
In just 30 years’ time, it is forecasted that the human population of our planet will
be close to 10 billion.
Producing enough food to feed these hungry mouths will be a challenge, and
demographic trends such as urbanization, particularly in developing countries,
will only add to that.
The Amazing Ways John Deere Uses
AI And Machine Vision To Help Feed
10 Billion People

3. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
To meet that challenge, agricultural businesses are pinning their hopes on
technology, and that idea that increasingly sophisticated data and analytics tools
will help to drive efficiencies and cut waste in agriculture and food production.
Leading the way is John Deere – the 180-year-old manufacturer of farming and
industrial machinery which has spent the past decade transforming itself into an
artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven business.
I have covered John Deere before here.
The Amazing Ways John Deere Uses
AI And Machine Vision To Help Feed
10 Billion People

4. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Farm Forward Vision
Near the start of the journey in 2013, it unveiled its Farm Forward vision –
demonstrating the concept of the “autonomous farm” where machinery would be
remotely managed from a central control hub.
It showed a farmer monitoring data points and managing machinery from a
console in his home in real-time, while AI takes care of the moment-to-moment
operational decisions.
Now it has released what it calls the 2.0 version of that vision – representing the
leaps in learning and practical application of smart, self-teaching technology that
has been made since those early days of the digital transformation.

5. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture
I spoke to John Stone, SVP of John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG), about
what has been learned since it starting out on this journey, and how it is pushing
towards its latest vision of the future of agriculture.
Stone tells me "Now we're very much pushing into artificial intelligence, computer
vision, and machine learning … what's amazing is how all of this technology is such
a hand-in-glove fit for agriculture.
“It’s very clear that we need to be on the vanguard of these technologies – there’s a
lot of economic upside and profitability as well as sustainability that can be
unlocked for farmers through them.”
How easy is it to sell farmers on this vision of the future, though? After all, the
common stereotypical portrayal of a farmer isn’t always a person on the cutting-
edge of technology.

6. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture
“It may not be the stereotype,” Stone tells me, “but farmers are an amazingly tech-
savvy bunch.
“All of us know these new technologies are quite addictive and once they use them,
they really like them.
“When we tell them they can spray their fields with 80 – 90% less herbicide, based
on Blue River's testing … that's real money right in your pocket. As well as less
herbicide going onto the plants that are going to become our food. Farmers are
business people, and they're looking for business outcomes from this precision
agricultural technology."

7. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Blue River
Blue River is the Silicon Valley-based machine learning startup acquired by Deere
back in 2017, which has provided the foundation of the multinational giant's foray
into artificial intelligence, with their expertise in computer vision, in particular,
proving itself an incredibly valuable asset.
Computer vision is essentially the science of teaching computers to "see"–
interpreting images captured by cameras to understand what they show and enable
autonomous decision-making based on what is learned.
Stone says “The farmer has been the primary ‘sensor’ on a farm for years – and so
much of farming is visual.
“It’s how does the ground look, what can you tell about the health of a plant by
how it looks? Are the leaves nice and lush or are they going yellow? Are there
bugs?

8. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Blue River
“The revolution taking place with deep learning has opened doors to solving
problems that farmers have dreamed about solving for years … with computer
vision systems and deep neural nets, there’s a very exciting future in these
technologies in farms.”

9. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
See and Spray Pesticide
and Herbicide Distribution Systems
One application of Blue River’s technology has been in the development of Deere’s
See and Spray pesticide and herbicide distribution systems.
This involves using smart cameras powered by computer vision, which are able to
distinguish between healthy and unhealthy crops as machinery passes through the
field.
While traditionally the decision about whether or not to dose a crop with chemicals
has been made on a field-by-field basis, this system allows targeted bursts of
chemicals to be directed precisely where they are needed, at individual plants –
hence the 80 to 90% reduction in herbicide use touted above.

10. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
The Business Partnership
Stone moved into his role with the ISG in 2016, just before the Blue River
acquisition, meaning he has overseen the partnership between the industrial giant
and the AI upstart from the outset.
“If you look at how many big, old industrials have successfully acquired and joined
forces with a Silicon Valley start-up, I’d guess it’s not that many – we’re off to a
fantastic start.”
As evidence of how well the two companies have merged cultures and learned from
each other, he says of the 90 Blue River staff whose roles were acquired, just one
has resigned since the takeover.

11. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
The Business Partnership
“The culture of the team is brilliant – some of the best deep learning and machine
learning scientists there are … and full-stack software programmers … who just
happen to have this tremendous affinity for agriculture. They want to be practicing
their technology in an application that matters – not just in research papers.”

12. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Combine Advisor system
While the See and Spray system is still not quite ready for commercial deployment,
John Deere has other machine and deep learning systems which are already in the
hands of thousands of farmers across the globe.
One of these is the Combine Advisor system. Again, built around computer vision,
this involves using cameras mounted on combine harvesters that monitor video
images of grains as they are taken up the combine’s elevator and into the tank.
Deep neural networks are used to analyze the quality of the grain and make
adjustments to the operating parameters of the machinery on-the-fly if grains are
getting damaged. More cameras monitor the detritus from the harvesting
operation – stalks, leaves, and cobs – as they are ejected from the rear of the
harvester to become fertilizer for the fields. These cameras check that no grains are
being ejected – with the aim being to ensure zero wastage.

13. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
JD Labs “Start-Up Collaborator”.
Another crucial part of Deere's strategy to remain on the vanguard of AI and
agriculture is its JD Labs “start-up collaborator." This enables it to be in close
proximity to small, agile start-ups that are able to develop and trial innovative
technologies in ways that might not be possible for a giant of John Deere’s size.
"It's a really cool program, that helps us to continue to stay engaged with a really
exciting community," Stone says. "We provide some mentoring and agricultural and
agronomic domain expertise, while they get a chance to continue to work on their
technology and refine it, and we see what comes out at the end."

14. © 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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