Artificial intelligence to reduce herbicide use鈥攃omments from Mathieu Leduc
Students at the Universit茅 de Sherbrooke have developed a tool that enables market gardeners to rid their fields of weeds more quickly and without resorting to herbicides, using AI-controlled robotics.听
鈥淩educing pesticide use is 100% what we advocate in the classroom,鈥� Mathieu Leduc, agronomist and Faculty Lecturer in 91社区's Farm Management and Technology program, told
There are several reasons for restricting the use of pesticides. Firstly, the more farmers use them, the more resistant plants become.
Mathieu Leduc compares their use to that of antibiotics. 鈥淲hen the doctor knows you have an infection, he prescribes an antibiotic. We don't take antibiotics all year round.鈥�
Secondly, their use represents a risk for all workers exposed to them.
Then there's the environmental impact: the most damage to ecosystems occurs when herbicides leave the fields and land in forests, watercourses, and the water table, explains the agronomist.
Because of the drainage effect, strong winds and intense rainfall increase the level of pesticides found in nature.
鈥淔or some years now, instead of falling over a week, our rainfall has been falling over two hours,鈥� worries Mathieu Leduc. 鈥淲ith climate change, weather events are becoming increasingly intense.鈥�