AI strawberries and blockchain chicken: how digital agriculture could rescue global food security

AI strawberries and blockchain chicken: how digital agriculture could rescue global food security

“¢ An AI-assisted team recently beat traditional farmers in a Chinese strawberry-growing competition.

“¢ China plans to overhaul its smallholder farming culture with extensive digitalization in many areas.

“¢ This 'digital village' model could help solve the world's growing food-security problem.

In May 2020, with technical support from the UN FAO, China Agricultural University and Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo hosted a "smart agriculture competition". Three teams of top strawberry growers - the Traditional teams - and four teams of scientific AI experts - the Technology teams - took part in a strawberry-growing competition in the province of Yunnan, China, billed as an agricultural version of the historical match between a human Go player and Google's DeepMind AI.

At the beginning, the Traditional teams were expected to draw best practices from their collective planting and agricultural experience. And they did - for a while. They led in efficient production for a few months before the Technology teams gradually caught up, employing internet-enabled devices (such as intelligent sensors), data analysis and fully digital greenhouse automation.

The final winner was announced in December 2020. The four Technology teams produced an average of 6.86 kg of strawberries, or 196% more than the 2.32 kg average for the three teams