At the opening last month of Pace Port Toronto, the fifth global research and co-innovation center operated by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), K. Ananth Krishnan, the company’s chief technology officer, recalled a astute advice he had once received from his friend and mentor, the late Dr. Clayton Christensen.
“Don’t just get excited about technology,” Christensen, a Harvard professor known as the “disruptive innovation guru,” who was named an independent director and member of the TCS board of supervisors in 2006, told him, “ but for what are the people who actually use it in their daily lives. »
When it comes to agriculture and artificial intelligence (AI), anywhere in the world where the land is farmed – whether it’s the Middle East, India, North Dakota, Saskatchewan or the South – Western Ontario – this approach is followed to the letter by TCS’ research and innovation (R&I) teams.
During a presentation that took place at the Pace Port event after the official speeches and inauguration ceremonies, Chiranjib Adak, head of technology solutions for Canadian BSFA (banking, financial services and insurance) companies from the company, described some of the agricultural advances the researchers are involved in.
Chief among these is the use of satellites and drones as part of a sky-earth convergence initiative that can be used to test soil quality, not field by field, but over a wide geographical area. .
The key, Adak said in an interview with our colleagues at IT World Canada, is to first acquire the data using drone or satellite technology and then follow it through a process that uses technology. machine learning and real-time data processing that generates reviews in different forms. One of the forms could be the case of a farmer who can be advised on the nutrient profile of the soil and whether it is deteriorating or improving.
“There are crop growth and yield forecasts, which help both banks and farmers,” he said. “Another angle in terms of using AI is this whole notion of spatial data that we use on farms, overlaying weather forecasting models. When we do this we are able to see that certain types of weather conditions make a crop more susceptible to fungus, bacteria or insect pests. »
“We are focused on both improving food production and crop yield, as well as creating a platform for farms to improve crop planning and production. »
French adaptation and translation by Renaud Larue-Langlois