Growers are using AI for everything from analyzing field data and scouting crops to making equipment more efficient and helping with day-to-day business decisions.
Shannon Kellner, vice president of livestock for Merck Animal Health says the more the tools are used, the more useful they become.
He says, “The beauty of a lot of these tools, as well as sometimes the more difficult thing if you’re in the business of selling them, is the more the tool gets used, the more data you have, the more data you have, the smarter the tool gets, the more insights you get, and as you start to apply the artificial intelligence concept over that, you start to see value propositions.”
A 2026 study tested ChatGPT on corn-production decisions, including planting, fertilization, irrigation and insecticide applications. Researchers found the system could process information such as historical data, crop maps and sensor readings to produce practical recommendations quickly.
“Because each management, how they manage their labor is different, how they their feeding programs are different. Just all the things that they do different, the tool is customizing itself to optimize that, as well as they will learn new ways to do things as well. So it’s an extremely fascinating area, and the value that’s going to be unlocked, we don’t even know yet.” Said Kellner
The goal isn’t to replace the farmer but to give farmers another source of information to make better decisions.
