Artificial Intelligence-Based Crop Disease Identification Technology: Applications, Challenges, and Future Prospects

Abstract

Crop diseases pose a critical threat to global food security. Traditional diagnostic methods are inefficient and fail to meet the demands of modern precision agriculture. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies centered on deep learning have revolutionized the rapid and precise identification of crop diseases. This paper systematically outlines key AI techniques for crop disease recognition, including computer vision-based image recognition, multimodal data fusion, and edge computing for field deployment. By analyzing representative domestic and international application cases, this paper highlights the significant advantages of this technology in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Simultaneously, it delves into current technical bottlenecks and deployment barriers, such as the few-shot learning problem, environmental interference, and low farmer trust. The paper concludes by outlining future directions, including self-supervised learning, digital twins, and industry integration, to advance the deep application and implementation of AI technology in smart agriculture.

Code and data availability

This is a review article on AI-based crop disease identification. It contains no paper-specific phenotype datasets, images, code, models, or supplements; all cited works and commercial cases (DJI, CropIn) are third-party, and no availability statements or URLs for authors' assets appear.

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