The $37 Billion Weed-Killer Market Is Under Threat From AI

Farmers shelling out $37 billion a year to drench fields in liquid weed killers are increasingly trying out a new model: use tech to use less.

After almost a century of deploying a more-is-more approach to chemical herbicides, the global agricultural sector is rapidly rolling out advancements that promise to curb the use of weed-control sprays by as much as 90%. Using artificial-intelligence powered cameras, the new sprayers can identify and target invasive plants while avoiding the cash crops. If even a fraction of growers adopt the new tools, it could mean a big shift for crop-chemical majors like Bayer AG and BASF SE.

“Though they don’t ...