Regenerative Ag Chatbot Advisor

Regenerative Ag Chatbot Advisor Farmers interested in regenerative farming can find answers online from FieldLark. Advancing Eco Agriculture’s AI-powered agronomist chatbot provides recommendations mainly based on founder John Kempf’s speeches, books, articles and field research. Kempf has gained a national, if not international, following for his regenerative agriculture efforts and a line of products.  “We’ve trained FieldLark on journal articles and books we rely on and value, as well as conversations John has had with farmers, consultants and researchers,” says John Ela of Advancing Eco Agriculture. “The database includes about 10 years of plant analysis on more than 100 different crops, as well as another 10 years of organizational experience. As important as the data is the framework we have given it. It has top-level instructions to follow a value system aligned with ecological principles and other frameworks for how it thinks.” Users can simply ask questions. They can also upload photos of pests, damaged crops and more to get responses and recommendations from FieldLark. Initially, FieldLark only used Kempf-related data when providing a response or recommendation. Ela says it now draws on additional online sources.  “We’ve added instructions or guardrails to ensure it doesn’t utilize marketing material from commercial companies,” says Ela. Outside data is channeled through the overlying framework. “FieldLark comes to a lot of conclusions on its own, such as stating that anhydrous ammonia is quite bad,” notes Ela. “We didn’t train it to say that; however, because the framework prioritizes health and ecological effects, it came to that conclusion.” Ela admits that, like any AI system, FieldLark could potentially hallucinate, making up an answer if no relevant data is available. “We haven’t seen that yet, but there’s always a risk of receiving bad information,” says Ela. “We always recommend if the topic is mission-critical or requires an investment, it’s always good to get a second opinion.” If no other resources are available, Ela suggests reframing the question and comparing responses. It’s also possible to ask FieldLark for the origin of the information and to review the citations provided. As with any new practice, regardless of the source, he advises conducting a trial on a limited number of acres based on the level of risk. “You can even have an interesting conversation with FieldLark about itself,” says Ela. “We have an 80-page document based on John Kempf discussing its growing awareness with it.” Ela suggests that talking to FieldLark can assist in getting help from it. “You can ask it what questions to ask and how you should approach a subject,” he says. “Ask how it can best help solve the problem. Provide location soil tests and other available data. Include objectives as well as past challenges. The more context or data you can provide FieldLark, the better the answer it can give.” FieldLark has received glowing testimonials from users and non-ag recognition. Recently, thanks to FieldLark, the company was named one of the most innovative companies in agriculture by Fast Company. The business magazine emphasizes innovation in technology, business and design. Visitors can try FieldLark for free with a limited number of questions. FieldLark Standard costs $29.99 per month and includes 75 questions with no daily limits, plus email support. FieldLark Pro is $149.99 per month and provides unlimited questions and priority support. All users receive app-like mobile access on their devices. Past chats can be reviewed and expanded. FieldLark can interpret sap or soil tests and other test results or documents, as well as identify diseases from photographs. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Advancing Eco Agriculture, 4551 Parks West Rd., Middlefield, Ohio 44062 (advancingecoag.com).

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