Certified seed growers are using AI to cut paperwork, sharpen\u00a0decisions\u00a0and reclaim time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When most people in the seed industry hear artificial intelligence, they think about breeding pipelines, genomic\u00a0selection\u00a0or trait discovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rachael Sharp is using AI in certified seed operations to decide where to haul a load of soybeans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On her family\u2019s multigenerational farm<\/a> in Allendale, South Carolina, Sharp is using AI to make real-time decisions about\u00a0logistics,\u00a0recordkeeping\u00a0and certified seed management \u2014 areas of the business that rarely make it into the broader AI conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have to guess whether it\u2019s going to be more profitable for me to go to Newberry or Monetta or the port in Charleston,\u201d Sharp says. \u201cIt tells me\u00a0the\u00a0best bet based on the price.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That shift from instinct to instant analysis is moving from interesting to indispensable\u00a0in how she\u00a0runs\u00a0\u00a0operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sharp\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0come back to the farm with a background in agriculture. She studied English with a Shakespeare concentration at the University of Georgia<\/a> and went on to earn a law degree before deciding that path\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0where she wanted to spend her days. What started as helping with bookkeeping quickly turned into ordering parts, managing\u00a0inputs\u00a0and eventually becoming a partner in Sharp & Sharp Certified Seed alongside her father.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, she is also leading one of the more unexpected transformations on the farm \u2014 integrating AI into\u00a0nearly every\u00a0layer of the operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n From Clipboards to Real-Time Records\u00a0<\/p>\n Certified seed production runs on data. Germination rates, lot numbers, field histories, compliance\u00a0documentation \u2014 it\u00a0all\u00a0must\u00a0be tracked, verified and ready to produce.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sharp used to manage much of that through spreadsheets and paperwork. Today, she speaks it into her phone while standing in the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll\u00a0say, \u2018record that on May 11,\u00a02026\u00a0I\u2019m planting peanuts in the field behind the house,\u2019\u201d she explains. \u201cThen when\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0time to turn in my 578 to FSA\u2026 it pops up with farm number, track number, field number, when it was planted. Something that used to take hours to do\u2026\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0already done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The shift is not just about convenience. It is about\u00a0eliminating\u00a0friction in a system that demands precision.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that I was doing record keeping-wise on paper or even in an Excel document, it\u2019s keeping record of now,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n That includes tracking certified seed<\/a> lots,\u00a0monitoring\u00a0germination results and even organizing storage inside her facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll tell me this is the lot number you need to plant because the germ is this\u2026 or it\u2019ll remind me to take another sample to the seed lab,\u201d Sharp says.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a business where traceability is non-negotiable, AI is becoming an operational backbone.\u00a0<\/p>\n Decisions\u00a0Get\u00a0Sharper\u00a0<\/p>\n Beyond recordkeeping, Sharp is using AI to guide decisions that directly affect profitability.\u00a0<\/p>\n By feeding in transportation costs, elevator prices and delivery options, she removes guesswork from where to move grain.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sitting there\u2026 asking where\u00a0do we want\u00a0to take it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt tells me where we need to take it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She also leans on historical farm data to plan crop rotations, pulling from records dating back\u00a0nearly a\u00a0decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI put in all the data from 2015, and it gives me a list of where I need to put stuff and explains why,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t always go with it, but 95 or 96% of the time,\u00a0it\u2019s spot on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n