Alan Fern

Farming has always been fueled by innovation. From the introduction of the steel plow to the high-tech, mechanized farms we see today, our farmers have always sought new methods to put more food on the table.

Yet, while agricultural production has never been easy, today, farmers at all scales face a troubling reality. The lingering effects of reduced demand at farmers markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, matched with the challenges created by a high variance climate and uncertain market prices, have made farming even more demanding.

Here in Oregon, we only recently emerged from one of the worst droughts in our state’s history. This multi-year drought was so drastic that, at this same time last year, 80% of Oregon was under abnormally dry conditions. While some farmers could adapt by planting fewer crops, the persistent shortages made others reconsider their place in the industry. The consensus understanding of climate science suggests that these challenges are not just anomalies, but rather foreshadow larger problems on the horizon.

Fortunately, there are many opportunities for technology to help farmers adapt to these present and future challenges. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one such emerging technology that is already having an impact in agriculture. Recognizing this untapped potential, the AgAid Institute was formed in 2021 to explore the potential for AI technology to transform farming, with an emphasis on specialty crops such as grapes, apples, nuts and cherries.

Since its inception, the AgAID Institute has studied a variety of problems, ranging from robots for pruning and picking, to predicting soil water content for deficit irrigation decisions, to predicting cold-hardiness of grapes and cherries to support frost mitigation decisions.

AI technology, however, is fundamentally limited by the available data and that is where immediate public support is needed. Localized weather data is critical for AI models to learn from and give quality individualized recommendations to farmers.

Currently, Oregon’s public weather network is comprised of 61 weather stations that can deliver data to farmers and new AI tools, with plans to install an additional 30 stations in the near term across the state.

However, this is only a start. These stations still only provide sparse coverage of the state, and many farmers will remain in a data desert. This is in contrast to Washington state’s coverage, which includes over 340 stations in their weather network.

It is time to be proactive and invest in a robust and high-coverage public weather network across Oregon. This is critical to enabling the full potential of AI technology to revolutionize how farmers make decisions. The result will be better use of resources, such as water and fertilizer, increased efficiency, and positioning farming as a more attractive profession for the next generation.

More broadly, this same public network could enable public and private organizations to create other economic benefits that we cannot yet envision. A failure to act now is just leaving precious data on the table.