AI is transforming agriculture, how can farmers and land managers be sure it works for them? What digital twins, soil health metrics, novel robot sensors and other technologies can do to support profitable farming and enable ecosystem service payments—while also addressing critical questions about data rights, governance, and ownership like: How can farmers and landholders retain control of their own data and capture more of the value AI creates? How can the new tech help farmers to monitor, track and predict soil health and empower them to make on-farm decisions? Through maps and real-world examples, let’s explore limits and opportunities.
This episode was recorded live at Groundswell 2025, in the UK, one of the most important gatherings for regenerative agriculture in the world. During the panel Koen moderated on AI in Ag: What’s Possible,What’s Not, What Farmers Need to Know we dove into into challenges and opportunities with the scientist Ichsani Wheeler, the farmer and investor Maarten van Dam, the journalist Louisa Burwood-Taylor and the fund manager Naeem Lakhani.
This conversation is part of the AI 4 Soil Health project which aims to help farmers and policy makers by providing new tools powered by AI to monitor and predict soil health across Europe. For more information visit ai4soilhealth.eu.
LINKS:
LINKED INTERVIEWS:
- AI, Soil Health and Ag Tech series
- Alfred Grand – Why an Austrian farmer and researcher trained by earthworms is very excited about AI
- Mateusz Ciasnocha and Maria Virginia Solis Wahnish – From EU Soil Mission to Pope Francis, how to change local and state agriculture and food policies
- Bridget Emmett – Moving over carbon soil compaction is the real issue in agriculture
- Jason Hayward-Jones – Corporates paying for low carbon grains and why virtual twins are key in gaming and Scottish whiskey
- Paul Clarke – Smart Machines, AI and Modeling: engineering our way out
- Tom Hengl – We should reward the stewards of the land like we celebrate Olympic champions
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The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.