{"id":1639,"date":"2018-08-16T17:18:32","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T09:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2018-08-16T17:18:32","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T09:18:32","slug":"can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Tuesday 14 August will mark the start of the Autonomous Greenhouses Challenge as five international teams try to grow cucumbers at a distance with the use of artificial intelligence at the facilities of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). \u201cThe goal is to convert knowledge about cultivation into algorithms that can enable computers to regulate cultivation automatically in the future, even in places where such knowledge is lacking. So the question is: can computers do as well as farmers?\u201d<\/p>\n

The five international teams will have four months to produce a cucumber yield remotely and without human intervention, using as little water, nutrition and energy as possible while achieving the highest possible output (i.e. production). Each team has been allocated 96 square metres in the facilities of WUR\u2019s business unit Greenhouse Horticulture in Bleiswijk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teams have partly developed their own algorithms and used them to determine output settings such as temperature, light quantity, CO2 concentration, fertilisation and several cultivation-related parameters such as plant and stem density,\u201d says the head of the Horticulture Technology research team Silke Hemming. \u201cThe sensors and cameras \u2013 which they will be installing themselves in the week of 20 August \u2013 measure some of these cultivation data. The sensors send the information to the computer systems, allowing them to control the climate and fertilisation in the greenhouse. The teams will not be allowed to enter the greenhouses apart from to install the equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams will collect all data remotely and be able to continuously adjust their algorithms for the software. Hemming: \u201cThe software itself will adjust the output settings like temperature where necessary. The goal is that the self-teaching software gradually takes over human decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge was organised by Wageningen University & Research Greenhouse Horticulture and the internet company Tencent. \u201cWe think we can further improve food production in greenhouse horticulture by introducing artificial intelligence,\u201d Hemming continues. \u201cThis unique challenge lets us connect with international partners and make major strides forward. Although they are already global leaders in cultivation expertise, we believe even Dutch breeders will benefit from results of the challenge, as it will enable them to make decisions based on more carefully considered information.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Hemming, the use of artificial intelligence will have an even greater impact globally. \u201cIn many countries, there is very little knowledge about complex plant production. Artificial intelligence can help people make complicated decisions, so they can locally produce vegetables and fruit with fewer means. The higher yield and production are especially important in view of the growing global population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cucumber, the crop of choice<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the autonomously controlled greenhouses, the challenge will comprise a reference greenhouse where the chief grower of WUR Greenhouse Horticulture and several Dutch growers will cultivate cucumbers in an authentic way. \u201cWe settled on cucumbers as our crop of choice because they grow fast,\u201d says Hemming. \u201cThis will enable us to obtain lots of information in four months. Cucumber plants are also very quickly affected if something is done incorrectly during cultivation. A breeding company cultivated the plants for the teams, and people from the test company of WUR Greenhouse Horticulture will put the plants in the greenhouses. The yields, their value and the associated costs and sustainability factors will be compared to the reference greenhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supervisors from WUR Greenhouse Horticulture will provide the teams with the required digital information. Information will be shared with and output settings received from the teams via an interface produced by LetsGrow.com, one of WUR\u2019s tech partners. WUR employees will be responsible for harvesting and communicating standard crop information, including yield weight, to the teams. An international jury will oversee the process and award points.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the points will be awarded for maximisation of net profit,\u201d Hemming explains. \u201cAnother criterion will be sustainability: energy & water consumption, CO2 levels and the use of crop protection agents.\u201d Teams will also receive points for the use of artificial intelligence. Questions such as \u2018how autonomous was the teams\u2019 actual approach?\u2019 and \u2018how realistically could this system be applied on a large scale?\u2019 will be the main issues evaluated by the jury in the final stage.<\/p>\n

An exciting competition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect an exciting competition in which the teams \u2013 deep_greens, AiCU, The Croperators, Sonoma and iGrow \u2013 apply different approaches,\u201d Hemming concludes. \u201cFor one team, for instance, the focus will be on artificial intelligence, while another team will highlight cultivation expertise.\u201d The winner will be announced in the second week of December during the AgriFoodTech trade exhibition. \u201cWe will gain lots of new knowledge for a new cultivation method for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: Wageningen University & Research<\/a><\/h4>\n
\n

<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 14 August will mark the start of the Autonomous Greenhouses Challenge as five international teams try to grow cucumbers at a distance with the use of artificial intelligence at the facilities of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). \u201cThe goal is to convert knowledge about cultivation into algorithms that can enable computers to regulate cultivation… Continue reading Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nCan artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research - agrinoon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research - agrinoon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tuesday 14 August will mark the start of the Autonomous Greenhouses Challenge as five international teams try to grow cucumbers at a distance with the use of artificial intelligence at the facilities of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). \u201cThe goal is to convert knowledge about cultivation into algorithms that can enable computers to regulate cultivation… Continue reading Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"agrinoon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-16T09:18:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/img.agropages.com\/UserFiles\/FCKFile\/zkc_2018-08-16_09-43-12_549.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/\",\"name\":\"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research - agrinoon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-16T09:18:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-16T09:18:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#\/schema\/person\/535254a24a4e1135afec5bcc244a5a8c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/\",\"name\":\"agrinoon\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#\/schema\/person\/535254a24a4e1135afec5bcc244a5a8c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/727d38bbce271274ba21a10196f68d0e97dc7f36482cf2ddd1a056ba4ac20386?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/727d38bbce271274ba21a10196f68d0e97dc7f36482cf2ddd1a056ba4ac20386?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/s691948366.onlinehome.us\/demo\/agrinoon\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research - agrinoon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research - agrinoon","og_description":"Tuesday 14 August will mark the start of the Autonomous Greenhouses Challenge as five international teams try to grow cucumbers at a distance with the use of artificial intelligence at the facilities of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). \u201cThe goal is to convert knowledge about cultivation into algorithms that can enable computers to regulate cultivation… Continue reading Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research","og_url":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/","og_site_name":"agrinoon","article_published_time":"2018-08-16T09:18:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/img.agropages.com\/UserFiles\/FCKFile\/zkc_2018-08-16_09-43-12_549.JPG"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/","url":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/","name":"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research - agrinoon","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-08-16T09:18:32+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-16T09:18:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#\/schema\/person\/535254a24a4e1135afec5bcc244a5a8c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/2018\/08\/16\/can-artificial-intelligence-well-farmers-future-cucumber-plants-enter-autonomous-greenhouse-wageningen-university-research\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can artificial intelligence do as well as farmers in the future? Cucumber plants to enter autonomous greenhouse of Wageningen University & Research"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/","name":"agrinoon","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#\/schema\/person\/535254a24a4e1135afec5bcc244a5a8c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/727d38bbce271274ba21a10196f68d0e97dc7f36482cf2ddd1a056ba4ac20386?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/727d38bbce271274ba21a10196f68d0e97dc7f36482cf2ddd1a056ba4ac20386?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/s691948366.onlinehome.us\/demo\/agrinoon"],"url":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agrinoon.com\/agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}