In the old times, a potato was harvested with an agrimotor when the farmer thought it was the right time to do so, followed by transportation after an order of a supermarket or restaurant that ought it to be necessary. New innovations involving Artificial Intelligence (AI) are disrupting the food industry, outdating the described process.
With a GDP of over 992 billion dollars in the U.S. only, the food and agriculture industry contributes 5.5% to the national economy (Source). This pattern is very similar for other countries. Technology is able to make this industry even more profitable, but maybe more importantly, it has a key role in solving the issue of a limited food supply for a growing world population. Both implications are discussed in the following parts in order of the supply chain.
Farming
Firstly, AI, sensors and drone technology can be used for better crop yields by offering a great amount of useful information. With this data, a farmer is able to see the areas in his field that need more water for example, or he can spot plant diseases early on. AI could also make suggestions about the soil composition before planting or, in contrast, make recommendations about the harvest time and paths.
Transport
Then there is the transport and supply chain of the food industry. AI is very promising in this industry because it is able to decrease transportation costs and increase the food transport planning, reducing waste and guaranteeing fresh products. After that, it is time to bring the food to the final consumer, whether this is in a restaurant, a supermarket or gets delivered to your doorstep.
The Consumer
In restaurant, AI is causing more automation in the ordering process. Sometimes, human waiters are not necessary at all, because they are replaced by robots like ‘Pepper’ (More info here). AI also influences how consumers choose the restaurant they will go to by making better recommendations based on location, personal statistics and their history of visited restaurants. In addition, the current trend tells us that people are increasingly ordering food instead of cooking it themselves. That’s why the online food ordering industry is also growing rapidly. Well known examples like Domino’s pizza have introduced voice ordering and similar ways to increase the customer experience of ordering food. In the meanwhile, the way the food is delivered to your doorstep is also involving more and more algorithms. Some companies have started to roll out their full-automated electric delivery robots that deliver your food without any human input.
A Starship Technologies delivery robot
Next to restaurants, supermarkets are also applying new types of technology to increase the customer experience. After the first Amazon Go store, it is not unthinkable that all the grocery shopping could be done without the scanning of a product manually or any type of verbal communication. Another interesting development, which applies to already cooked meals, is the algorithm-based scanning of food ingredients by simply taking photographs of your plate. Start-ups like TellSpec do exactly this, making it easier to keep track of all the macronutrients you’re eating.
While all these developments are already more than one year old, the current developments are very promising and I am very excited about this. I will highlight some of the future technologies that may impact to food industry in another article soon.