The Past, Present, and Future of AI in CEA
October 31, 2024 As the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry advances, artificial intelligence (AI) continues to play a more significant role in a grower’s daily work. CEAg World recently spoke with Tomas Geurts, the general manager of Source.ag’s office in North America.
Source.ag, a Netherlands-based AI company, expanded into North America this past May to assist Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. growers with their operations. Geurts has been a part of the Source.ag team for almost three years, and he’s seen extensive growth in AI applications during that time.
AI’s History in the CEA Industry
AI has become commonplace in everyday life and an essential tool in a wide range of professions. From Chat-GPT to Claude and every platform in between, it’s easier than ever to rely on AI for information. When Geurts first joined Source.ag in 2022, greenhouse growers were just starting to experiment with AI.
Tomas Geurts
“I think companies were merely experimenting with AI because there were no satisfactory solutions out there that provided value,” said Geurts. “AI has been a buzzword for decades in many industries, and I think a lot of companies have struggled with finding ways to have AI add value to an operation, specifically a greenhouse operation.”
Addressing AI Challenges in North America
Source.ag became a notable AI company in the Netherlands over the past few years, and were named Startup of the Year during the 2024 AgTech Breakthrough Awards. Given their success in Europe and increasing demand among North American growers for AI solutions, the company expanded into North America. According to Geurts, the need for fresh produce is higher than ever in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
“In these three countries combined, there are close to 500 million consumers who want more fresh produce,” said Geurts. “When I speak with growers here in North America, I consistently hear that they’re looking to scale their operations to serve these consumers better.”
In addition, Geurts noted how growers in North America face different challenges than growers in the Netherlands. “Growers in North America want to scale their operations, but they don’t have enough expert growers to allow for such fast growth.” he said.
The Source.ag team focused their AI technology on a variety of greenhouse applications.
Focusing on a Variety of Applications
While AI companies have made it easier for growers to scale their operations faster, most of them focus on one application specifically.
“Most companies have a narrow focus,” said Geurts. “You have a company that would, for example, only focus on prediction, or a company only focusing on autonomous control. Those are good solutions, but to serve growers well, you need a holistic, end-to-end approach.”
Source.ag centered their AI technology around all aspects of growing, aiming to streamline every part of production. “We provide a solution that collects data, registers crops, visualizes data, and allows it to be analyzed. Our solutions suite then helps predict your yield and optimize the crop strategy,” said Geurts.
Putting Growers First
Because plants require constant care, a grower’s workday never really ends, and it’s difficult to keep weekends open.
“Growers can’t always keep an eye on their plants and that’s challenging,” said Geurts. “For example, the weather can quickly change, and your plants might need something, but you’re too late. This is something I’ve consistently heard from growers. They know what they need to do, but they don’t have the time to implement it fast enough.”
This is where AI can make a grower’s day-to-day tasks easier. Rather than monitoring their plants every minute of every day, growers can rely on a virtual assistant grower to tell them what their plants need and at what time.
“A virtual assistant grower will continuously look at the weather forecast and update the irrigation strategy every time a new piece of information comes in,” explained Geurts. “So, when a grower is off on a Sunday and doesn’t want to look at their plants, they can delegate this task to the assistant grower. This is where AI takes some workload away and allows growers to have some time in their lives to not look at their computer over the weekend.”
Looking Towards the Future
According to Geurts, growers are just starting to see how AI can simplify their daily operations. While the potential of AI in CEA is exciting, it will likely take time before it’s fully adopted across the industry.
“I think we’re at the very beginning of how AI can drive future growth in this industry,” said Geurts. “But it’s going to take time. I also see that when working with growers, these types of solutions require resource investment and patience. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Have you started using AI in your CEA facility? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.