> There's a lot of groundwork to lay before we can start applying state of the art algorithms to ag.
We have experts in algorithms, embedded systems engineering, computer vision, software engineering, sensor technology, and robotics at our company (along with a few other specializations). But before we can utilize that talent to its fullest, we have to build the foundation. So that's what we, and a whole bunch of other really talented companies, are doing: building the foundation. Hopefully in a few growing seasons we can start to really apply what we've learned.
If you had said something like "fund the work" it would have sounded more acceptable. There is a large space between "extracting maximum profit" and "doing work for free".
I personally wouldn't want my work code online, as its always rushed and there is a fair bit of technical debt I would like to to refactor, rather than having potential employers thinking that I always write shit code. Feature requests are valued more than code quality.
I say, let it all hang out. Code can be continually improved.
For example, a few months ago my co-founders and I built a computer vision system that could count fruit (predicting yield is important because produce spoils quickly). The growers we've shared it with love it but most don't have the infrastructure to use the data in their operations. It's hard to respond quickly when everyone is emailing spreadsheets.
Adoption of tech in ag has been slow, in part, because farmers are already very good at their jobs. Many of them have been working the same crop on the same land for decades so there has been some skepticism about what new information can be learned from "just another sensor."
But change is in the air. The water is running out, there's a huge labor shortage, and every farm employee now has a smartphone.
If we can spend the next year or two getting farm operational data online then there is a huge amount of value that can be unlocked with even relatively simple algorithms (not to mention deep learning etc.)
In fact, we don't really have any other choice. Software can bring in the next green revolution and that makes this a really exciting time.