Checking AI advice before it reaches farmers

The cost of wrong advice

For a farmer, advice is not information; it is a decision about money, time and a season's harvest. The wrong pesticide, the wrong dose or the wrong timing can waste scarce cash, damage the crop, harm the person spraying, poison animals or contaminate water. Wrong advice on animal health can lose a family its most valuable asset. A small farmer may not get a second chance until the next season.

Extension services carry the trust of farmers because their advice comes from qualified people who know local conditions. If AI-generated advice goes out under your department's name without proper checks, it spends that trust. This module explains what to check and who must check it.

Why AI advice goes wrong

• It invents. AI tools can produce a precise-sounding dose, product name or schedule that is not real or not right. A hallucination on a pesticide label is dangerous.
• It generalises. Advice that is correct in one country, climate or soil can be wrong in another. Most tools do not know your district's soils, water quality, typical sowing dates or which varieties are grown locally.
• It misses what is permitted. A tool may recommend a chemical or medicine that is restricted, unregistered or banned locally or one that should only be used under specialist supervision. It will rarely warn you.
• It is out of date. Pest pressure, resistance patterns and official recommendations change. A tool's knowledge cutoff means it may not know.
• It agrees with the question. Ask "should I spray for this disease?" and a tool may say yes. This is sycophancy: answering what the question seems to want rather than what is right.

Local conditions change the right answer

The same symptom can have several causes. Yellowing leaves may mean disease, pest damage, nutrient deficiency, waterlogging, drought stress or herbicide drift. The right response depends on things a tool rarely knows:

• the crop variety and its growth stage
• soil type, irrigation and recent weather
• what was applied recently and what neighbouring farmers are seeing
• the farmer's budget, equipment and access to inputs
• current local pest and disease reports

An experienced extension officer gathers these before advising. AI cannot replace that conversation.

Who checks and how

Any AI-assisted advice that goes to farmers, whether in a leaflet, a message, a radio script or a chatbot answer, should be checked by a qualified person before it is released:

1. The right expert. Plant protection advice by a plant protection specialist or agronomist; animal health advice by a veterinarian; irrigation advice by someone qualified in water management. Generalists should not sign off specialist advice.
2. Against official sources. Product names, doses, intervals, safety periods and protective equipment checked against your department's current recommendations and the product's registered label. If the source cannot be found, remove the advice.
3. For local fit. Does it suit the varieties, seasons and conditions of the area it will reach?
4. For safety. Does it include the warnings a farmer needs about protective clothing, storage, children, animals and water sources?
5. For clarity. Will a farmer understand exactly what to do? Vague advice leads to guessing.

Record who checked each piece of advice and when. This is human oversight and it gives your department a clear line of accountability.

When farmers bring you AI advice

Farmers will increasingly arrive with advice from apps or chatbots. Do not dismiss it, as that discourages them from coming back. Instead:

• ask what the tool said and what it was shown
• check the field or animal yourself where you can
• explain clearly where you agree, where you do not and why
• be especially firm on chemical and medicine advice that is unsafe or not permitted

Try it

Ask an AI assistant for advice on managing a common pest of a crop grown in your area, including product and dose. Do not act on it. Check every product, dose and timing against your department's published recommendations. Mark what is correct, what is generic, what is wrong and what safety information is missing. If possible, ask a specialist colleague to review your marks.

Check yourself

1. Give three reasons AI advice to farmers can be wrong.
2. Who should check AI-assisted advice on animal health?
3. What should you do if you cannot find an official source for a dose an AI tool gave?

Answers: (1) Any three of: it invents details, it generalises from other conditions, it misses what is permitted locally, it is out of date, it agrees with the question. (2) A qualified veterinarian. (3) Remove it from the advice.