arXiv Computer Vision

Crop Yield Prediction for Punjab, Pakistan: A Tree-Ensemble and Leaf-Health Prototype, and What Random Validation Hides

The paper presents a crop‑yield prediction prototype for Punjab, Pakistan that combines several machine‑learning models (Random Forest, XGBoost, SVR, Ridge‑stacked ensemble) with a MobileNetV2 leaf‑health classifier, and deploys it as a web app with SHAP explanations. An initial 80/20 split on a small merged Kaggle table yields an R² of 0.991, but an audit reveals severe data duplication, reducing performance to –0.20 when whole years are held out. Further analysis on deduplicated data and a longer FAOSTAT table shows that a simple per‑crop linear trend outperforms the complex models, and that neither pesticide use nor national temperature changes explain the residuals; the leaf‑health component, though highly accurate on image data, is not linked to yield records and adds no predictive value. whyItMatters":"The study highlights how data quality and proper validation can dramatically alter the perceived effectiveness of advanced predictive models in agricultural forecasting."

arXiv AI
Oct 28

Crop Yield Prediction Using Regression Models: A Comparative Evaluation of Model Performance

The study compares five regression models—multiple linear regression, random‑forest regression, decision‑tree regression, ridge regression, and lasso regression—for predicting crop yield using a dataset of 1,000,000 observations and ten variables. After preprocessing, the models were evaluated with 80:20 and 70:30 training‑testing splits, using R‑squared, MSE, and RMSE as metrics. Lasso regression and multiple linear regression achieved the highest test R‑squared (~0.913) and lowest RMSE (~0.501), with linear models providing competitive baselines and random forest showing a large training‑testing gap.

By Saptak Das, Arijit Sarkar, Soumik Neogi, Suborno Naskar
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 31

Accurate prediction is not profitable advice: profit-based evaluation of machine learning nitrogen recommendations in winter wheat

The study evaluates machine learning models for nitrogen recommendations in winter wheat by directly scoring profit loss on 892 yield response curves, rather than relying on prediction accuracy. Results show that none of the models recover the best rate within farm tolerance, and at typical prices all models underperform standard UK advice. A simple post‑model correction step reduces profit losses by up to 43% without retraining, while a hybrid approach further mitigates bias and large losses.

By Xulong Wang, Po Yang
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 28

Profit based evaluation of machine learning for nitrogen recommendations in winter wheat

The study evaluates machine learning for nitrogen recommendations in winter wheat by directly scoring profit loss on 892 yield response curves, rather than relying on prediction accuracy. Results show that ML models alone fail to recover the best nitrogen rate within farm tolerance and underperform standard UK advice across price scenarios. However, a simple post‑model correction step significantly reduces profit losses, and a hybrid approach combining standard advice with a damped correction eliminates bias and large losses.

By Xulong Wang, Po Yang
arXiv Machine Learning
Oct 8

Transferability and operational reliability of a Prithvi crop classification foundation model under phenological and geographic shift across three continents

arXiv:2610.08810v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Fine-tuned geospatial foundation models (GeoFMs) pretrained on large satellite archives have been shown to improve crop classification accuracy and geo...

By Venkatesh Kolluru, Rajat Shinde, Abdelhak Marouane, Caden Helbling, Deepak Shah, Othneil Drew, Srinivas Kolluru, Iksha Gurung, Manil Maskey, Rahul Ramachandran
Hugging Face Trending Papers
Aug 27

Profit based evaluation of machine learning for nitrogen recommendations in winter wheat

The paper evaluates machine learning for nitrogen recommendations in winter wheat by directly scoring the profit lost on measured yield response curves, rather than relying on prediction accuracy. Using 892 yield curves from UK experiments, the authors find that machine learning models fail to recover the best nitrogen rate within farm tolerance and generally underperform standard UK advice in terms of profit. However, a simple post‑model correction step can reduce profit losses by up to 43% without retraining, suggesting that machine learning can enhance standard advice rather than replace it.

arXiv Machine Learning
Jun 30

When Prices Double in a Week: Forecasting of Agricultural Volatility in Import-Isolated Markets

arXiv:2606. 29248v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Vegetable prices in Sri Lanka are highly volatile because the market is largely import-isolated, so supply disruptions quickly drive prices up.

By Ranuga Weerasekara, Heshan Nethmina, Manuja Ranathunga, Vinma Wettasinghe, Dinithi Navodya, Subavarshana Arumugam, Nirasha Munasinghe, Nisansa de Silva, Sandareka Wickramanayake
arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 11

Integrating spectral and morphological plant features with decision-tree models for early-season cotton biomass and nitrogen status estimation from multi-year UAV data

arXiv:2608. 07801v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Precision nitrogen (N) management (PNM) for cotton requires in-season monitoring of crop growth parameters and N status indicators to decide fertilizer timing, placement, and application rates for optimal canopy development and yield.

By Vaishali Swaminathan, Nithya Rajan, J Alex Thomasson, Amrit Shrestha, Karem Meza Capcha, Robert Hardin, Pramod Pokhrel
arXiv Computer Vision
2d ago

FedXCrop: Privacy-Preserving Crop Disease Detection via Federated Learning with Post-Aggregation Explainability under Non-IID Farm Distributions

FedXCrop is a federated learning pipeline for crop disease classification that preserves farmer privacy while providing post‑aggregation explainability. The system uses a MobileNetV2 model and achieves near‑centralized accuracy (98.81%–99.38%) across five clients, even under non‑IID label skew. Grad‑CAM and SmoothGrad explanations are quantitatively evaluated, showing that federated models largely retain explainability characteristics of centralized models, though agreement decreases with increased heterogeneity.

By Kriti Saini, Manikandan P
arXiv Machine Learning
Sep 15

An Uncertainty-Aware Hybrid Mathematical-Machine-Learning Model for Smart Irrigation Decision Support

The paper presents a hybrid model that combines a four‑parameter water‑balance core with a Random Forest residual correction and conformal prediction to generate 90‑percent confidence intervals for soil moisture forecasts. The risk‑aware rule uses the lower bound of these intervals to trigger irrigation decisions, improving early detection of management‑threshold crossings while maintaining precision. Evaluation on three years of hourly data from a Mediterranean cropland station shows the hybrid outperforms nine baselines, achieving up to +27.4 % skill at three hours and demonstrating that uncertainty quantification dictates the reliable lead time for irrigation advice.

By Andrea Scariolo