AI As a Human Tool, Not Standalone Option in Agriculture
Right now, talk about artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. Tune into a favorite television news show, read a popular magazine, or listen to a noteworthy radio show/podcast and chances are someone will be discussing AI and its implications for the world in some fashion. For example, National Public Radio spent an entire week in early February presenting a series looking at AI in today’s society.
In many of these, the talk centers around how AI could end up replacing human operators. Some experts believe, however, that AI will instead be a useful tool for humans to employ to make their jobs more efficient.
In the ag community, AI has also received plenty of buzz over the past two years or so. And truth be told, there are some
“AI will replace us all” conversations, but the majority of folks within the agricultural world fall into the “AI will be a useful tool used by humans” camp.
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“If I as an ag retailer representative use AI for a recommendation and it goes wrong, I’m still liable because my name is on that recommendation,” says Daren Coppock, President and CEO at the Agricultural Retailers Association. “So, we view it as a useful tool for ag retailers, not a substitute for the person using it.”
Other industry experts agree.
“Putting AI tools in the hands of skilled agronomists is one of the ways we see things going forward,” says Chris Reynolds, Executive Vice President, Global Sales at Nutrien. “We have more than 4,000 crop consultants out there and making sure they have the latest technologies available to them to make the best recommendations to our customers is something we are definitely thinking about.”
Given these views from some of the most prominent people in agriculture, I expect the talk surrounding AI in 2026 will be increasingly positive.
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