Moderating a recent Farmfest Forum on how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping agriculture, West Central Minnesota farmer Zach Johnson said AI interests just about every-one in agriculture at least a little bit.

“It’s like the internet was 20-25 years ago. It’s going to take everyone using it to the next level. I’m sure some great things will come from it and there will be challenges,” said Johnson, known as the Millenial Farmer with more than a million followers on the YouTube Channel “Millennial Farmer.”

He said he’s seen autonomous technology that allows farmers to do things like sit in one tractor while another one or two are operating in the same field, allowing them to cover much more ground at the same time, “babysitting” more tractors at once.

Corteva agronomy innovation leader Ken O’Brien said AI helps farmers make decisions, even while they are in the field.

“AI won’t replace agronomists, but agronomists who use these tools will replace those who don’t. It will amplify R & D (research and development),” said O’Brien. “Farming is getting pretty complex. AI can help us make more informed decisions and do things like monitor crops so we known when diseases and insects are coming sooner that we used to know, so they don’t have to wait for diseases and insects to show up.”

Don Scriber of TerraClear said his company is revolutionizing rock picking with a system of drones, high-resolution imagery and machine learning to identify problematic rocks in fields. It offers rock maps and skid steer-based rock picking robotics to farmers.

“I don’t think AI will operate an entire farm in my lifetime, but its a great tool,” he said.

O’Brien said AI can help farmers decide when to apply fungicide to produce an additional five bushels per acre.

“The benefits outweigh the risks. I’m excited about what’s coming with AI and where it’s going. We’re not able to quickly access real time information so farmers can make adjustments before they get in the field and make more of a difference than they could in the past,” said Scriber.

O’Brien said he isn’t overly concerned about AI getting ahead of farmers so they can’t out-think it, but he’d like to see it used to to things like clean grain bins.