IF artificial intelligence isn’t coming to your farm just yet, you can bet it is coming to a farm very near you.
Especially in the industries the length and breadth of areas such as Sunraysia, where thousands and thousands of seasonal and temporary-visa workers shift from property to property and region to region.
According to agritech provider AgPick Technology, facial recognition could help to keep track of who they are and confirmation of their legal right to work.
The company said its AgPick ID app used advanced biometric technology to verify worker images and immediately identify them, so they can match to registration details in the AgPick data store, including name, visa status and payment methods.
AgPick chief executive Henrietta Child said it provided “an extra layer” of security, which would primarily protect growers, suppliers and pickers from the implications of ID fraud.
“Growers want to know who is on their farm. This technology uses commercially available AI functionality to ensure people on your farm are who they say they are and if they have a legal right to be there,” Ms Child said.
“The technology also protects growers from Fair Work breaches, supports their insurance coverage, and protects them from ID fraud, saves admin time and ensures accurate payment.
“At induction, pickers are registered, three images of their face are loaded into the AgPick system and from then on, sign-in is with a face option – simply take a photo and press start.
“The image is compared with the unique metadata attributes of their face and matched to their personal details already in the system. If the ID doesn’t match, the worker either shouldn’t be there or hasn’t been registered.”
She said the technology enabled supervisors to use any Android device to capture the images.
“The process will obviate the need for workers to carry crew ID cards which can be misplaced, lost, or used by someone else,” she said.
Ms Child said people working independently on hourly rate jobs could easily move between jobs around the farm, using the face scanner at each point.
“We had some uncertainty as to whether this new check would slow the operation down, but we couldn’t have been more wrong,” she said.
“Before we knew it, they had ditched the cards for all time bookings because it was quicker.”
The AgPick ID app is integrated with the AgPick system, so all data captured about a worker’s activities and their performance is reported in AgPick Reporting Portal.
“At a granular level, the system records activities and time spent on a block, and allows companies and supervisors to make better, more informed decisions,” Ms Child said.
