Business News Tech AI USDA to launch AI tool to check crop production data after errors
USDA to launch AI tool to check crop production data after errors
After the USDA discovered errors in its corn data from September, officials determined the AI tool would have flagged the problem and decided to use it on the crop production report due on November 10, USDA Under Secretary Scott Hutchins said in an interview.
The US Department of Agriculture will use an artificial intelligence tool it built to check data in next week's monthly crop production report , agency officials said, after a series of data missteps eroded farmers' and traders' trust in its forecasts. After the USDA discovered errors in its corn data from September, officials determined the AI tool would have flagged the problem and decided to use it on the crop production report due on November 10, USDA Under Secretary Scott Hutchins said in an interview. The tool's debut tests whether the agency can restore confidence in data that often moves markets.
"I'm very bullish on the fact that we'll be able to utilize these tools in the future to help us avoid these kinds of really, truly unfortunate errors," Hutchins said on Thursday. Last month, the USDA corrected its September corn production and yield data. The correction raised the yield estimate by about 3% in Nebraska, the third-biggest corn-producing state, and lowered it by about 2% in Kansas. The agency, long viewed as the gold standard of global agricultural market information, previously faced criticism after it made sharp upward revisions to estimates for last year's corn acreage.
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