AI is making farming more precise; Meet companies building circular economy
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.
Hello,
Humanoid robots are racing past human runners.
With the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence, robotics seems to be getting sidelined in mainstream news. The field is growing with humanoid bots getting better with each passing year. On Sunday, dozens of Chinese-made robots showed off their athleticism as they beat human runners in a half-marathon race in Beijing.
The difference between the race on Sunday and the inaugural race last year was stark, The Guardian reports. This year, over a hundred robots participated compared to the 20 or so previously. Also, several machines comfortably beat professional human runners.
Speaking of technology overtaking humans, new research shows that an over reliance on AI chatbots can erode users’ confidence in their own ideas. By the same token, users that questioned AI’s output or scrapped the result altogether showed greater resilience against this cognitive hijacking.
Lastly, which is the world’s best-selling video games of all time?
The answer, according to this chart, depends on which business model and platform one looks at. While Tetris, with more than 520 million units sold, might seem like a clear cut winner, the game has been released across several platforms since 1984.
If one were to assess a game’s sales based on its versions, then Minecraft would take the lead.
In today’s newsletter, we will talk about
- AI is making farming more precise
- Meet companies building circular economy
Here’s your trivia for today: Which was the first movie to release an original soundtrack album?
In Depth
AI is making farming more precise
AI might be the last thing that comes to mind when talking about agriculture, however, algorithms, AI models, and satellite imaging are shaping farming decisions long before a seed touches 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.
Key takeaways:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Social impact
Meet companies building circular economy
A new crop of social enterprises and climate-focused startups is re-imagining waste. From temple flowers and cigarette stubs to plastics and industrial scrap, these ventures are creating circular economies that clean up communities while generating livelihoods.
Clean drive:
- Founded by Ankit Agarwal, Phool is preventing flowers from going to waste. The collected flowers are cleaned, dried, and transformed into charcoal-free incense sticks and other wellness products.
- Started by brothers Naman and Vipul Gupta, Code Effort tackles the problem of cigarette butts–one of the most littered and toxic forms of waste globally.
- Founded by Yuvraj Bhardwaj, Yashraj Bharadwaj, and Ishita Bansal, Plannex Recycling focuses on some of the most complex and difficult waste streams—plastics, tyres, batteries, and solar panels.
News & updates
- Rare find: A life jacket worn by a Titanic survivor has been sold at an auction for a whopping £670,000, The BBC reports. This is the only jacket to be sold at an auction since the ship sank 114 years ago.
- AI chips: Google is in talks with Marvell Technology to develop two new chips aimed at running AI models more efficiently, The Information reported citing sources.
What you should watch out for
- India-US trade talks: Indian officials are expected to travel to Washington on April 20 for three-day talks with US counterparts on the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. The recent changes in tariffs imposed by the US will likely be a key point in the discussions.
- Earnings: Infosys, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, are among the marquee companies to release their Q4 results 2026 this week.
Which was the first movie to release an original soundtrack album?
Answer: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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