AI Is Helping This Japanese Agriculture Company Plant Spinach—but How?

Farmship, a Japanese agricultural startup, has developed a technology that employs artificial intelligence (AI) to boost the growth of spinach seedlings, Nikkei Asia reports.

The technology, created in partnership with the information science firm Pi Material Design, promises to reduce food waste by enhancing yields and efficiency.

How the Technology Works

Plant factories, as opposed to outdoor cultivation, are not impacted by weather and can produce continuously in a small area; hence production has increased in recent years. Even in a plant factory, however, it is difficult to maintain a uniform culture environment, and there are individual disparities in growth speed - the startup plans to address this with the latest tech.

The AI system is divided into two components. The first section estimates the height, width, and weight of seedlings cultivated in plant factories using images.

The second section forecasts seedling growth using an index developed by Farmship. The technique attempts to boost harvesting efficiency by rejecting seedlings that are not growing properly and selecting superior ones - a standard process in modern farming.

The startup also explained that when the model is utilized in a new location, the shooting conditions, such as brightness and background change, will require the AI model to be retrained.

Impressive Results

According to a recent press release from the startup, the system raised the ratio of seedlings that grew properly to 80%, up from 54% using normal procedures. This translates to a 17% increase in harvest.

To eliminate more poorly developed seedlings, the company intends to improve the system further by optimizing the culture medium, watering method, and other parameters.

Farmship also notes that sorting seedlings is currently the second-most time-consuming task after harvesting and accounts for around a twelfth of the cultivation cost at a plant factory.

Robots and the latest technologies like AI could assist in cutting expenses and boosting efficiency by automating the process. The startup intends to promote the system to future vegetable factories.

Why Spinach?

While lettuce is now the most frequent vegetable produced in plant factories, Farmship picked spinach for this trial since its unit price is relatively high, and demand for growing in vegetable factories is likely to expand.

The company claims that by modifying the data set for the AI model, its technology may be extended to other green vegetables, such as lettuce. It also intends to use AI to shorten growing times.

Nikkei Asia reports that the system was created as part of a bigger effort with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, which is supported by the government.

The project seeks to minimize food loss by combining seedling technology with artificial intelligence that predicts the market price and weight of vegetables.

According to figures from Statista, the revenue in the Japanese vegetable segment is expected to reach $73.55 billion in 2023. The market is also expected to grow annually by 1.21% from 2023 to 2027. However, in global comparison, China leads the way with revenues of $141.30 billion in the same period.

Farmship's technology can help stabilize supply, enhance quality, reduce food loss, and increase yields. As AI and automation continue to alter the agriculture industry, such technology may become more widely adopted.

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