Okanagan Specialty Fruits, which farms over 1,250 acres of apple orchards in Washington State, is testing camera-based AI from Canadian firm Vivid Machines to forecast crop yields and optimal harvest dates. The cameras, mounted on tractors, capture images of trees so AI can identify buds, flowers and fruit, producing crop estimates alongside weather-informed harvest timing. Company representative Joel Carter says the system catches small flower buds humans might miss, though forecast accuracy depends on the quality of historical data fed into it.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-09-30
Farmers and researchers are deploying four-legged robots equipped with thermal sensors, cameras and AI vision models not just to guard high-value crops but to gather detailed data on plant health. Volkswagen has used robotic sheep to study agrivoltaics at a Polish solar farm, illustrating how the technology is spreading beyond simple security patrols.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-28
PepsiCo is investing in precision agriculture technology, including drones and data analytics, on farms like a multigenerational operation in Alberta to improve soil health and crop yields. The company relies on roughly 45 billion potatoes annually for Lay's, Ruffles and other snack brands, making stable harvests essential to its supply chain.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-22
PepsiCo highlighted Perry Farms, a multigenerational Alberta farm that has supplied potatoes for Lay's for over 40 years, as an example of regenerative agriculture in action. The farm uses data-driven tools and soil-health practices to strengthen resilience against climate and supply-chain pressures.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-22
John Deere has introduced JD, an artificial intelligence assistant designed to give farmers quick answers and richer data about their operations. The tool is meant to make the company's connected, smart equipment more appealing at a time when Deere's sales have been sliding.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-09
Three teenage girls from Kinsale, Ireland, followed up an accidental discovery of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in pea plant roots by testing whether the same bacteria could benefit cereal crops, which normally can't host them. Working from a home laboratory over three years, Émer Hickey, Ciara Judge and Sophie Healy-Thow soaked barley, oat and other cereal seeds in rhizobium cultures and tracked germination and growth against controls, despite experts warning the bacteria wouldn't help non-legume plants.
scienceblog.com
· 2026-09-03
Researchers combined 2019 reconstructed marine fisheries landings from Sea Around Us with FAO inland fisheries and aquaculture data to measure how much invertebrates such as mollusks, crustaceans, sea cucumbers and jellyfish contribute to global seafood production. They standardized species names using the ASFIS taxonomic system and checked their findings across multiple years from 2014 to 2019 to confirm consistency. The analysis treated marine and inland fisheries separately due to gaps in reconstruction data for freshwater systems.
nature.com
· 2026-09-02
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