AI isn’t going to eradicate hunger on its own but it’s going to be such a powerful tool to help all of us finally make that goal a reality!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 6 months you will have undoubtedly heard about ChatGPT and the countless different AI tools coming out every single day using its technology…. Its a lot! And I don’t know about you but we have been struggling to keep up.
By now we’ve seen an AI for almost everything and after getting over the excited little child with hundreds of new toys phase, playing around with as many free AI driven tools we could get our hands on, we stuck our dmtr hats on and asked the question: what does this mean for the world of Agriculture and our global food system? Does AI hold the answer to how we feed everyone in this planet? And I tell you what we are so excited by the potential!
The Farmer’s Business Network has been quick off the blocks and has already released an AI tool for farmers called Norm, built off of ChatGPT’s language model, that is trained to provide high quality agronomy content. We check this out below.
But first, we put ourselves in the shoes of our audience of passionate individuals, organisations, foundations and entrepreneurs/ founders and we asked AgentGPT (which allows you to deploy Autonomous AI agents that attempt to reach a defined goal by thinking of tasks to do, executing them, and learning from the results) 3 separate questions on how each could tackle food insecurity. You can see AgentGPT at work on these in the video and we take a deeper look at its output below.
What YOU CAN do to make a difference in reducing hunger and malnutrition?
What AgentGPT had to say:
- Donate to organisations that provide food assistance
- Volunteer at local food banks or soup kitchens
- Be an advocate – advocate for policies and programs that address hunger and malnutrition locally, nationally and internationally
- Encourage local businesses and individuals to donate surplus food to foodbanks and soup kitchens
- Encourage friends, family and get yourself involved in community gardens and urban farming efforts that increase access to fresh local produce.
What do governments, businesses and society need to do to eradicate hunger around the world?
What AgentGPT had to say:
- Support sustainable agriculture practices by providing resources and education to farmers and communities
- Increase access to nutritious food for all through food aid programs, community gardens and local partnerships
- Address the root causes of hunger which include poverty, inequality and conflict through policies that promote economic development, social justice and peace.
- Develop programs to provide financial assistance and education to those facing food insecurity such as food stamps and microfinance initiatives
- Incentivise businesses to invest in sustainable agriculture and support local farmers, such as through fair trade practices and partnership with small-scale producers
- Collaboration with governments and international organisations to coordinate humanitarian aid and promote sustainable food systems
- Implement policies that prioritise small-scale farmers and sustainable agriculture such as crop diversification and soil conservation
- Develop programs that address food waste reduction and distribution inefficiencies such as improved storage and transportation infrastructure and food recovery programs
- Implement policies that support the production and distribution of nutritious food to communities experiencing food insecurity such as community gardens and food cooperatives.
If I was an entrepreneur, what social enterprise should I establish to most effectively reduce world hunger and how would I set it up?
What AgentGPT had to say:
To get started research current social enterprises that tackle world hunger , their approaches and impact. Then identify the specific needs and challenges in areas with high hunger rates such as access to food, water and healthcare.
AgentGPTs suggestion: Establish a social enterprise that addresses the root causes of hunger in a sustainable manner such as partnering with farmers to provide training and resources, potentially through a tech platform that connects farmers to seeds, tools and training.
Now the business model and how to get going: Develop a scalable and sustainable business model that addresses the identified needs, leveraging technology and partnerships with local farmers or organisations. Develop a strategy for sustainable farming, including identifying appropriate crops for the area, available irrigation systems and training plans for farmers. And It hasn’t forgotten about money either. it suggests you need to identify potential sources of funding, such as grants and impact investors, developing a plan for financial sustainability of the social enterprise.
OUR VERDICT: We are pretty impressed by the response to 3 simple questions (probably helped by its answers being in line with our areas of focus) and the value of the output only improves as you continue the conversation with the AI with specific prompts. With GPT-4 and beyond these capabilities are only going to become better and better, with broader applications – from scaling up the impact of a start-ups’ limited human capital, to identifying opportunities for improvement in the global agri-food systems and as tools to make farmers and food distribution more effective, which brings us back to Norm:
Norm: AI Agricultural Advisor
In the Farmer’s Business Network’s own words: Built off of ChatGPT’s language model, Norm is trained to provide high quality agronomy content.
To try out Norm we asked it to assume we are a smallholder farmer in Indonesia, brand new to the world of Agriculture. Here is our paraphrased 2 minute conversation with Norm:
Us: What crops can I grow?
Norm: Well you have got options – rice, palm oil, rubber, cocoa, coffee, tea.
Us: How can I maximise the amount of Cocoa I can grow on just 3 acres of land?
Norm: You are going to need to look into finding the right crop variety and soil conditions for growth where you are.
Us: But I haven’t exactly got money to throw away so how do I keep my costs low?
Norm: There are a number of options which includes to implement crop rotation and pest resistant varieties of crops to prevent pest damage.
Us: Ok but now I have produce, how do I sell my Cocoa?
Norm: I suggest to start with looking at local trade shows and joining a cooperative or association which can help better connect you to buyers.
Norm is still learning and growing but it is an impressive start and shows the exciting potential of the technology.
We have seen many attempts of new businesses looking to offer low cost mobile based advisory services to smallholder farmers that have ultimately not been able to sustain long term – ChatGPT’s technology could very well be the answer to success in offering such a service and undoubtedly countless other applications…. We are a fan!
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