Hopes AI can help with farm data

Otago Daily Times

01-05-2025

Mahgol Yousefi. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
AI could help farmers make their lives easier, a Southland farming open day was told yesterday.
Canterbury University PhD student Mahgol Yousefi spoke at the Southern AgriTech and Innovation Day at Waimumu yesterday, talking about the science behind her chatbot-for-farmers project.
She was also there to continue her conversations with farmers on how to make their work lives easier with AI, by combining all their data and applications into one interface, she said.
Farmers already had multiple apps and information sources they consulted daily, but her project aimed to create a chatbot to provide the information all in one place, Ms Yousefi said.
"There are 10 different applications that they need to go find the information that they are looking for and they might not find at the end, or it takes time for them to do that."
She hoped to create a dashboard with elements like soil moisture, cow health data and fertiliser all in one place, she said.
A chatbot could take all the information and give insight in natural, conversational language, which would be easier to understand.
One way the technology could be used was by connecting a weather forecast server with soil moisture data and giving ideas for irrigation planning.
Or, in one step further, it could adjust the irrigation settings remotely with a simple vocal command, she said.
Her project is funded by crown research institute AgResearch.
AgResearch senior science engineer Mos Sharifi said the institute approached the university to research the chatbot around 2021, which was timed quite nicely with the rapid advances in AI in the last couple of years.
The technology could be used by farmers to help them with their paperwork and to keep up with regulations, such as assurance reporting, he said.
Assurance reporting is when farmers have to provide evidence of their farm's yield as well as their commitment to things like animal welfare and food safety.
Ms Yousefi had been working with data from Dairy NZ, which had information on all the standard operating procedures farmers had to follow in the form of hundreds of digital documents, Mr Sharifi said.
The AI could scan the digital documents and deliver the answer quickly.
"These chatbots can connect the dots," Ms Yousefi said.