AI-Powered Weed-Killing Robots Threaten a $37 Billion Market
Crop-chemical companies are rethinking business models as evolving tech promises to slash herbicide use.
The John Deere “See and Spray” promises to save farmers money on crop inputs.
Source: John DeereFarmers shelling out $37 billion a year to drench fields in liquid weed killers are increasingly trying out a new model: use tech to use less.
After almost a century of deploying a more-is-more approach to chemical herbicides, the global agricultural sector is rapidly rolling out advancements that promise to curb the use of weed-control sprays by as much as 90%. Using artificial-intelligence powered cameras, the new sprayers can identify and target invasive plants while avoiding the cash crops. If even a fraction of growers adopt the new tools, it could mean a big shift for crop-chemical majors like Bayer AG and BASF SE.