How AI transforms agriculture in the rural world

It all started with a sewing machine. Ramón Álvarez de Arriba was one of the many Asturian immigrants who sought their fortunes in America in the 19th century. When he returned to Spain, he was the official distributor of Singer sewing machines, and upon his death in 1920, he dedicated his great wealth to creating a foundation in the nearby Peón Valley to strengthen agricultural education and innovation.

Fast forward to 2019 and the foundation developed the CTIC RuralTech innovation center, a branch of the Information and Communication Technology Center Foundation (CTIC). 

The CTIC’s headquarters in Gijón now include a quantum simulator, data hub, and an expanded reality experience generator. “We’ve been around for 22 years, and from the beginning, we’ve had a very close connection with rural areas,” says Fidel Díaz, CTIC’s R&D director. When the opportunity came up a few years ago to take over assets of the Ramón Álvarez de Arriba Foundation, they embraced it and opened a center that explores cutting-edge technologies, and shares space with the school that opened a century ago.

RuralTech remains focused on the enduring ideal to revitalize rural areas, and applies cutting-edge tools to address major challenges facing these territories, like climate change, which greatly impacts agriculture. “Many crops will no longer be able to be grown in the regions where they’re currently cultivated,” says Díaz. So it’s necessary to discover which varieties are most resistant to change, and to gather data to understand the new context. “We can control that,” he adds, emphasizing that technology makes it possible to perform analyses, better understand the soil, and differentiate what is and isn’t more resilient.

A time machine for the countryside

Cutting-edge IT tools now available include climate simulation systems and land-use intelligence, so crops can be monitored, and changes in the landscape can be understood. And thanks to the collected data, models are created that are applicable to other regions. As Díaz points out, the problems of the Asturian countryside aren’t unique and are repeated in other parts of Spain and throughout Europe. So applied to specific elements, these tools help improve the sustainability and efficiency of agricultural and livestock operations.

It’s like a time machine, says Fernando Ruenes, who, along with Ángela Campo, runs strawberry production company Asturiana de Fresas, and uses the CTIC simulator. They divide it into different planting zones and apply varying conditions to each. This way, they can predict outcomes in different contexts, and anticipate the effects of potential diseases, climate change, and water stress. “With the simulator, we have an advantage,” says Ruenes. “It’s about anticipating real-life situations.”

Thanks to these tests, you can even determine the optimal planting date or identify which species and crops not yet grown in the area might thrive, like olives or pistachios. A better understanding of the impact of different conditions also helps reduce pesticide use and increase crop profitability. Without AI and other emerging technology, these types of tests and simulations would take years, but with it, they can be completed in just one.

AI ​​and the big cheese

Enrique López, CEO of Spanish cheese producer Industrias Lácteas Monteverde, was once asked why they weren’t using the data generated by their cheese tastings and production. “We might have the data, but who’s going to develop this?” he recalls thinking. The solution lay with the technology center. They were the ones who could do the development. They started in 2020 when the pandemic upended the market and forced cheesemakers to reinvent production to adapt to different consumption habits. After the disruption, things got back on track, and now AI understands cheese, and which milk is best suited for which type of cheese.

“We knew the ideal cheese that had to be produced,” López says. But the milk isn’t always the same. Many variables affect it, from truck routes through different farms to cow diets. The quality is always high but different nuances impact the final result. Also, the way the product is presented or consumed requires changes to the maturation process. But now AI takes that entire pool of incoming milk and determines which is suitable for which purpose.

The AI ​​provides a recommendation, and López says more variables need to be included, such as registered orders and estimated working time. “This is a continuous learning process,” he says. The order book, stock levels, and estimates of milk and cheese price fluctuations would also allow for even greater efficiency. 

So the overall result is positive. They’ve already seen return rates approach zero and achieved collateral benefits, such as lowering the costs of comparative analyses.

Tech potential for the field

Although people often associate large urban environments with innovation, the rural world has always been in contention. “We’ve been innovating for many years,” López says. Industrias Lácteas Monteverde, in fact, is currently in the middle of a project with the University of Oviedo to convert whey from cheese production into plastic, and to use technology to help them reduce water consumption in the cleaning process.

It’s just one example of how tech potential in agriculture is limitless, especially for addressing crucial challenges of the future that already shape the present. “It’s very important to combine agricultural expertise with technological expertise,” adds Asturiana de Fresas’ Ruenes. They contribute their knowledge of the land, plants, and agricultural cycles, and the technology center provides the IT tools to overcome boundaries.

But adding tech for the sake of it is pointless. ICT tools can’t be superfluous and must offer solutions that add business value. “There’s no better way to innovate rural areas than from within rural areas,” Díaz says. “You have to endure it. Being in the countryside allows you to understand the real problems of those areas in real time, the context, and be in direct contact with key decision-makers.”