Counting wheat heads for more ecology
To Achim Walter, professor at ETH Zurich and member of the Swiss Plant Science Web it is clear: The budding artificial intelligence will decisively advance agroecology. But before we can harvest the fruits of AI, computers still have a lot to learn.
Over-fertilised fields, compacted soils, greenhouse gases and insect death – the list of problems in agroecology is both old and long. At the moment, drinking water is causing considerable concern as pesticides and high nitrate values threaten its quality.
The agricultural sector is in the dock.
The plaintiff is a society that essentially calls for “organic for all”, but only spends an embarrassing six percent of its income on food (and largely doesn’t buy organic). The job of policy makers is to define clear new rules. And science? Its job is to objectively clarify the facts and identify solutions.
Source
ETH Zurich Blog 10.07.2020 | Zukunftsblog | Sustainability, By: Prof. Achim Walter