Practical machine learning and its potential application to problems in agriculture

One of the most exciting and potentially far-reaching developments in contemporary computer science is the invention and application of methods of machine learning. These have evolved from simple adaptive parameter-estimation techniques to ways of (a) inducing classification rules from examples, (b) using prior knowledge to guide the interpretation of new examples, (c) using this interpretation to sharpen and refine the domain knowledge, and (d) storing and indexing example cases in ways that highlight their similarities and differences. Such techniques have been applied in domains ranging from the diagnosis of plant disease to the interpretation of medical test data. This paper reviews selected methods of machine learning with an emphasis on practical applications, and suggests how they might be used to address some important problems in the primary production industries, particularly agriculture.

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