AI Is Agriculture's Next Big Opportunity. But Which Decisions Has It Actually Changed?

Aidan Connolly, President, AgriTech Capital, is a food/feed/farm futurologist and author of the book The Future of Agriculture.

​In a new survey of nearly 2,000 agri-food professionals, I asked where they see the greatest opportunities for AI and how they are using it today. The respondents were primarily agribusiness executives, consultants, technology providers and researchers, so the findings reflect industry perspectives.

Overall, their answers were unsurprising: 67% identified better decision-making as a major opportunity, and 65% pointed to productivity. However, the picture became more interesting when we asked about specific applications. Just 5% identified autonomous equipment and robotics as potentially the most significant application, while 31% selected decision support and recommendations.

These findings raise an important question: How does agriculture move from recognizing AI’s potential to using it in ways that genuinely improve business performance? The answer may have less to do with choosing the right technology than with identifying the decisions worth improving.

The Easy Part: Using AI In The Office

Twenty-nine percent of the respondents say that they have used AI features built into software they already owned, compared with 9% who had used a tool developed specifically for agriculture. That number suggests two things: First, it may undercount actual usage, as AI features are now tightly bundled into office software. More importantly, it indicates an opportunity for increased use of AI tools in both commercial and production decision making, and that the biggest AI opportunity for agribusiness right now may be in purchasing, inventory, scheduling or other commercial decisions.

Using AI to perform an existing task faster is different from redesigning how work gets done, but the latter is much more closely associated with meaningful returns. It also gets harder when the recommendation affects a biological or operational outcome in food and farming.