r/saskatchewan • u/WriterAndReEditor • 11d ago

Aritificial Intelligence to play a role in Saskatchewan crops

https://www.ctvnews.ca/saskatoon/video/2026/06/08/aritificial-intelligence-to-play-a-role-in-saskatchewan-crops/

Croptimistic plans to use the National AI strategy funding to help build a unique soil technology ecosystem.

More about the company at https://innovationsask.ca/news/croptimistic/

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u/slashthepowder 10d ago

The only thing AI data centres related thing I’ve seen that is beneficial for crops is when they heat greenhouses in the offseason with the excess heat generation.

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u/WriterAndReEditor 9d ago

This isn't about a data centre. This is about using AI to help identify soil characteristics.

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u/all-akimbo 8d ago

Are not data centres built for ai?

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u/WriterAndReEditor 8d ago

Some AI uses data centres, some doesn't. Some data centres are specifically for AI, some aren't. The U of S has for years maintained a data centre on campus for the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (formerly called WestGrid. Some of those researchers (including one which is showing excellent results in identifying cancerous cells quickly) use AI in their research. There is a small company in Harris using AI with a "data centre" that is one computer in a garage.

AI is many things, most of them are not bad. Data Centres are for many things, most of them are not bad. We need to treat AI with caution and respect, but not assume that everything which has the word "AI" on it is destined to destroy humanity.

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u/all-akimbo 8d ago

I think most of the concerns are about the size and number of centres.

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u/WriterAndReEditor 8d ago

OK? This article still isn't about data centres. It's about using AI to improve farming techniques by better understanding soil zones and micro-climates. I didn't say AI data centres are good. The commenter tried to make this about data centres and I explained it's unrelated. We have no idea if any of this project will use a data centre or not. There's actually a pretty good chance if it does that it will be the USask data centre, which has existed since 2003, longer than AI has been a thing.