Google digitizes each rice field in Vietnam from satellite

(Dan Tri) - Google has just announced plans to expand two AI platforms in agriculture to Vietnam after a testing phase in India.

Illustration of a data-driven rice field, showing crop types and planting and harvesting history (Photo: Google).

Contrary to popular belief, this AI tool is not just about directly advising farmers. Instead, it is solving a much larger problem: Digitizing and decoding the complexity of the agricultural landscape.

The role of data in agriculture

At an online talkshow Introducing the new agriculture API from Google, Mr. Alok Talekar, Head of Agriculture and Sustainability Research at Google DeepMind explained the importance of data in agriculture.

Agriculture (especially in the Southern Hemisphere) is complex, he says. To make precise decisions like what crops to plant, we need to “digitalize.”

According to Mr. Alok Talekar, the world is at an important "turning point": Launching satellites or manufacturing sensors (information-gathering devices) is getting cheaper. Besides, although the technology is cheaper, we are collecting huge amounts of data with increasingly better quality.

“This is like Moore’s Law – a famous rule that shows computer chips get more and more powerful over a short period of time while the price drops – this is a huge opportunity that we can take advantage of,” said Mr. Alok Talekar.

Google has announced free application programming interfaces (APIs) that use remote sensing and machine learning to provide local agricultural ecosystems with insights that help develop simple, cost-effective, and targeted agricultural solutions.

“Each plot is given a unique ID, we can also tell you its area… This API has 15 years of historical data, allowing you to see how land use has changed. At the same time, it can tell you what the most likely crop is,” explains Alok Talekar.

Mr. Alok gives a real-life example of credit: "If a farmer goes to borrow money, the cost of having the bank send someone to the site to verify whether it is the right crop the farmer is growing is often very expensive... This makes it difficult for farmers to get loans from accredited banks.

Google's API provides independent, third-party data that is unbiased and reliable enough to act as a secondary source of information. A bank could use it to remotely verify crops, reducing costs and risks, making it easier to provide financing."

Expanding to Vietnam

Google’s expansion of free APIs to Vietnam is a great opportunity for our country’s agricultural sector to promote digital transformation. These AI models have proven effective in supporting the resilience of the agricultural sector in India and are expected to create a new step forward for Vietnamese agriculture.

Responding to a question from a Dan Tri reporter about the fact that the API currently only supports a number of fixed crops and the roadmap to add local crops (like in Vietnam) to the model, Mr. Alok Talekar responded frankly: "This is something we are quite concerned about. We understand that the suitable crops in India may not be the suitable crops in other regions and Google is researching and developing."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/google-so-hoa-tung-thua-ruong-tai-viet-nam-tu-ve-tinh-20251031031555821.htm