Being able to predict the growth of plants and crops is crucial to both farmers and horticulturists alike.  Researchers from Skoltech believe they’ve developed an AI-based approach to predicting plant growth.  The work, which was documented in a recently published paper, could help to improve the efficiency of precision farming.

Improving the efficiency of farming is likely to be increasingly important as the global population continues to rise.  Precision farming holds great promise for doing just that, and the ability to predict plant growth is fundamental to being able to optimize production.

Existing empirical models have proved limited in their effectiveness, although universal models have been able to display high accuracy and widespread application.  To try and build upon this, the researchers developed an AI-based system that uses computer vision and machine learning.

The researchers began by measuring the growth of a plant using a 3D camera to establish the link between the biomass of the plant and the expansion of the surface area of the leaves.  The increase in leaf area was then captured using a second camera to allow a plant growth model to be built based upon these measurements.

Plant growth

The machine learning algorithm developed by the team allows them to model the plant growth and predict its dynamics.  In total they processed over 10,000 images of the plant as it grew.

The work will form the basis of a larger project undertaken at Michurinsk State Agrarian University, with recommender systems being developed based upon the machine learning algorithms developed by the team.

“The key strength of our method is that it’s enough to get 3-D images of each plant species only once. Then you can predict the biomass growth in greenhouses using the simplest cameras. This helps create much simpler and cheaper prediction, monitoring and optimization systems for greenhouses and artificial life support systems,” the authors say.

The team believe that their findings make precision farming that much closer to reality, with the tremendous social benefits that could eventually entail.