Why farmers must get to grips with benefits of AI

FARMERS must learn to use artificial intelligence or risk falling behind their competitors.

- By Jaymi McCann

A document by TIAH The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture highlighted how automation is rapidly replacing manual labour across livestock, crop and dairy farms.

AI is now used to monitor animal welfare, detect disease and manage crop nutrition. But many farm workers do not know how to operate these systems or use the data they produce.

"As AI adoption accelerates, there is an urgent requirement for recruiting and training more people to provide technical support to farmers," the report said. It warned that much of the technology is going unused because of a skills gap.