https://techmonitor.ai/technology/ai-and-automation/ai-testing-europe

Weeds can be a nightmare for farmers, starving their crops of vital nutrients. Herbicides, however, often bring their own problems by leaching toxic chemicals into local waterways and natural habitats. Smart-weeding robots, which target and annihilate individual weeds, can be a sustainable agricultural lifeline, but they need highly accurate vision and perception algorithms that work whatever the weather. And with crop yields all-important in an industry where margins are notoriously tight, how can farmers be confident that the machines won’t go overboard and pluck prized plants as well as pesky weeds?

“We are in a situation where there are a lot of solutions claiming to use artificial intelligence that land on a farmer's desk,” says Raffaele Giaffreda, chief IoT scientist at research institute Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK). These AI tools might be essential. With a growing population and shrinking supply of fertile land, enhanced efficiency will be crucial to the sustainability of agriculture in Europe, says Giaffreda. Nevertheless, it’s tricky for farmers to know which interventions are actually safe and effective, and which ones are just riding the AI hype train for marketing purposes.