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Winnipeg Free Press

Starting long road to Root-ing out answers

Opinion I was curious enough to test-drive Root AI, the new online assistant Farm Credit Canada rolled out this week. Spoiler alert: I got mixed results. The free artificial intelligence tool was built by the federal Crown agency, which is the country's largest farm lender, as part of its growing suite of initiatives designed to support innovation in Canadian agriculture. It has now partnered with RDAR (Results Driven Agriculture Research), a not-for-profit research organization supported by the Alberta and federal governments to further develop it. TIM SMITH / BRANDON SUN FILES Piles of kochia, an invasive broadleaf weed, burn in a field north of Rivers in 2021. 'Root fills the growing gap in Canada's extension services by delivering accessible, expert-backed guidance to producers without requiring complex data inputs,' the announcement says. 'It translates decades of research, field experience and proven practices into practical, timely advice producers can use immediately.' Root is designed to help farmers build personalized business plans, track weather predictions, identify photos of crop threats or equipment parts, troubleshoot equipment issues, learn about grants and programs and stay up to date on interest rates and commodity prices. FCC says 91 per cent of its users so far report receiving helpful results, based on more than 2,900 conversations. 'Can we prove that this sort of technology can work in agriculture? I think the answer is clearly yes, based on a lot of the responses we've gotten,' Mohamad Yaghi, vice-president of FCC's Innovation Hub, said in an interview. 'We're trying to open the market up for other players to come into as well, whether public or private. 'But this is the start of the journey,' he said, noting the more partners the better. 'It's definitely not the end.' Yaghi said Root's advantage is it is focused on agriculture in a Canadian and regional context. The hope is it will shorten the time it takes for farmers to access relevant information. Those are lofty goals. Can it deliver? Maybe. 'How do I control multiple-resistant kochia in my fields?' I asked. To be fair, there are no easy answers for this invasive weed, also known as tumbleweed, which is resistant to herbicides and is now infesting thousands of acres across Western Canada. Root said I could burn it. That might do it, but it could be one heck of a prairie fire. It suggested hand-pulling. That would take a while. It suggested planting competitive crops to choke it out. It recommended herbicides, provided they are effective — which was the reason for my question. Finally, it referred me to a federal fact sheet about Palmer amaranth, also an invasive weed, but unrelated to kochia. Root was, however, more useful when I asked about the proper timing to spray fungicide to control fusarium head blight. I asked if it would rain in Carman within the next 48 hours and was told to check my local forecast. 'What is the price of wheat today?' I typed, realizing immediately that I wasn't specific enough. Canadian farmers grow multiple types of wheat. The answer was equally non-specific: '$543.' Then I asked a question I had an inkling would stump it. I was right. 'Is the cost of the farmer's quota included in the price of milk consumers pay at the grocery store?' I asked. Root responded yes, with a lengthy, very believable explanation of how farmers' costs of production are used to calculate consumer milk prices under supply management. Except quota purchases are not part of those calculations. 'Quota acquisition costs are considered capital investments, not operational expenses. As such, they are excluded from the COP calculation used in the National Pricing Formula (NPF), which determines adjustments to producer revenues,' said the Canadian Dairy Commission in response to my query. So, Root is not there yet. However, we can't afford to discount emerging technologies like these. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. Yaghi wants people to test Root. The more it gets used, the better it will get. But users must also be prepared to fact-check its answers. And it's important to remember while AI assistants can be remarkably effective at distributing existing information, they are only as good as the sources they draw upon. They can't replace continuing investment in research. Without that, knowledge won't be advanced, it will be frozen in time. Laura Rance is executive editor, production content lead for Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at lrance@ Laura RanceColumnist Laura Rance is editorial director at Farm Business Communications. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.