Intelligent fields: How AI is powering the future of Indian agriculture
As urbanisation accelerates and climate patterns grow increasingly erratic, farmers in India are adopting AI-led innovations to optimise their harvest.
What if the future of farming isn’t in the soil at all, but in code?
Today, algorithms, AI models, and satellite imaging are shaping agricultural decisions long before a seed touches the ground, redefining how crops are planned, grown and harvested.
That shift is already visible on the ground. Brahmjyot Singh Khalsi of Purple Farms points to AI-driven climate control as a turning point. “We cultivate strawberries year-round in Ahmedabad, even when outdoor temperatures rise to 45°C in peak summer. Climate is no longer a constraint,” he notes.
It sounds improbable, but agriculture has entered an era where such contradictions are becoming routine.
Over the past few years, precision farming, remote sensing, and data-led decision-making have moved from experimentation to adoption, helping farmers optimise yields, reduce risk, and adapt to unpredictable conditions.
The technological momentum is reflected in the agritech ecosystem: the number of DPIIT-approved startups grew from about 700 in 2020 to more than 2,800 by 2023.
Today, progress in the fields is no longer measured solely by what is planted, but by what is predicted.
The climate catalyst
Why does farming need optimisation? There are many answers to this question: Urbanisation, land scarcity, food security, and climate change. With the global climate changing for the worse, timely information has become a crucial factor for the agricultural sector.
Shravan Bhati, CEO and Co-founder of SatLeo Labs, a spacetech startup building thermal imaging satellites in Low Earth Orbit, says seasonal predictability has eroded.
“The season of every crop has now changed because of climate change. The rainfall season, which we call the kharif season, used to be a uniform period of six months. Now, it is taking anywhere between three to six months, depending on the crop and the region,” he explains.
Bhati believes this makes it critical to provide accurate thermal intelligence to farmers. “Accurate temperature data is very valuable to the agricultural sector. It helps us discern information regarding crop stress, soil moisture, drought, and harvest time,” he says.
While SatLeo Labs approaches agriculture from space, Ahmedabad-based 4CLIMATE addresses it from the ground. Initially specialising in greenhouse and hydroponic solutions, the company has expanded into open field agriculture, offering intelligent monitoring, climate control, nutrient management, and other IoT-based solutions.
Founder and CEO Subhajit Sinha believes productivity gaps leave significant room for growth. While it is difficult to grow the agriculture industry vertically, he says global food security demands have compelled many farmers to dabble with technology to get better yields per acre.
“If you consider India’s production as ‘x’, China operates at 3.5-4x, and countries like the Netherlands operate at 10-12x in certain segments. There’s enormous scope for improvement, and technology is the key enabler,” Sinha says.
The on-ground impact
Like Purple Farm’s Khalsi, Pritpal Singh, Founder and CEO of Chandigarh-based Farmcult, which manages over 20 acres of protected farming in North India, says 4CLIMATE's IoT-enabled systems have fundamentally transformed its operations.
“Today’s new-age farms depend heavily on cost-effective and reliable precision farming solutions. Technology has enabled us to monitor, optimise, and run our farms digitally with greater efficiency, bringing consistency and improving overall profitability,” he states.
On the other hand, for Vijay Singh, MD and CEO of New Delhi-based Shunya Agritech, AI’s role extends beyond crop health into supply chain management. “For us, AI acts like a patient manager who never sleeps. It studies demand patterns across villages, helps plan fodder production, and optimises logistics so waste is low, and freshness is high,” he says.
Inside production systems, data begins to replace intuition. “Small variations in humidity or temperature that once went unnoticed are flagged early,” Singh adds.
At the ecosystem level, Bengaluru-based Cropin has partnered with SatLeo Labs to combine its advanced thermal and satellite signals with Cropin’s AI-driven agricultural intelligence platforms. Beyond the collaboration, Cropin has digitised over seven million farmers through its work with global CPG companies, seed enterprises, commodity traders, and development partners across 103 countries.
Most recently, in South Asia, in collaboration with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center supported by the World Bank, Cropin worked with smallholder farmers in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka who are highly vulnerable to extreme weather.
“By digitising their farms and delivering personalised, predictive advisories in simple formats, we helped farmers make timely decisions. We empowered over 8,200 farmers, improved yield by 30%, and reduced crop losses by 23%. Irrespective of region, farmers do not need more complexity; they need timely, actionable intelligence,” says Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO, Cropin.
The business of AI-griculture
The financial momentum behind agritech is rising alongside adoption. Industry estimates report that the Indian agritech market, valued at $878.1 million in 2024, is projected to reach $6.2 billion by 2033, a surge of 600%.
A key reason is that agritech startups have been able to help small-time farmers, who are generally low-mechanised and vulnerable to pests and weather.
And now, investors are taking note.
Jinesh Shah, Managing Partner at VC firm Omnivore, sees deeptech and agriculture as a powerful convergence. “With advances in biology, data science, and climate technologies, we can now address challenges once considered too complex, whether that is soil carbon measurement, climate risk management, or improving resource efficiency at scale,” he says.
Shah also mentions that the ecosystem in India, even in its early stage, has matured significantly and that the VC firm is seeing stronger technical talent entering entrepreneurship, better incubation infrastructure, and a growing pool of early-stage capital that understands science-led businesses.
“Deeptech startups often fall within our 'Emerging Technologies' thesis, where we back companies [that are] using breakthroughs in science to fundamentally reshape agriculture and food systems. Agriculture is undergoing a climate-driven transition, and solutions that can improve farmer incomes, reduce environmental impact, or unlock new value chains are becoming increasingly important,” he says.
There has also been a significant surge of support from the government, with schemes such as e-NAM, AgriStack, Digital Agriculture Mission and PM-KISAN helping farmers access agritech solutions with direct income support.
While a Grand Unified Theory is still not a thing in physics, there is a grand unification coming up in the Indian business community because of such intersectoral work.
“When service organisations refine their systems, farmers experience steadier outcomes. When farmers adopt new practices and generate more data, providers sharpen their models and respond better. Capability on one side strengthens the other,” opines Singh in conclusion.
Edited by Teja Lele