Funding for a three-year research project slated to help develop a continuously updated database of available farmland.
一個為期三年的研究專案已獲得資金，旨在協助開發一個持續更新的可用農地資料庫。
RAINY RIVER — An ongoing research and innovation project that’s received provincial funding aims to use artificial intelligence to help create a database of available farmland.
雷尼河鎮 — 一個獲得省政府資助的研究與創新專案，目標是利用人工智慧來建立一個可用農地資料庫。
The initiative is the brainchild of the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance, a not-for-profit that focuses on the agriculture sector.
這項計畫由北方安大略農場創新聯盟（Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance）提出，這是一個專注於農業領域的非營利組織。
“Our overall goal is to be able to create an online mapping tool that links both Crown land and private land that is available as a starting place for farmers who are looking for land,” Emily Seed, the alliance’s executive director, said in an interview with Newswatch.
聯盟執行董事艾蜜莉·西德（Emily Seed）在接受《新觀察》（Newswatch）採訪時表示：「我們的總體目標是建立一個線上地圖工具，將可用的公有地和私有地連結起來，為正在尋找土地的農民提供一個起點。」
“So, they know where to go looking and then they can then take the next steps in following up — whether that be an application to access that land or whether it be working with a realtor, or whatever that might look like.”
「這樣他們就知道從哪裡開始找，然後可以採取後續步驟，無論是申請使用土地，還是與房地產經紀人合作，或是其他任何形式。」
Access to usable farmland has been a longstanding issue when attempting to expand and better agriculture across northern Ontario, Seed said.
西德指出，在試圖擴大和改善北安大略省農業的過程中，取得可用的農地一直是一個長期存在的問題。
The AI component will be implemented both in the database’s front and back ends, she said. Users will be able to use a feature like a chatbot to help with searches and, behind the scenes, it will scrape data from sources like open-source databases and public information released by realtors to constantly update the tool.
她表示，這套系統將同時在資料庫的前端和後端實施 AI 技術。使用者可以利用類似聊天機器人的功能來協助搜尋，而在後台，AI 會從開源資料庫和房地產經紀人發布的公開資訊等來源抓取資料，以便持續更新這個工具。
That will “keep that information up-to-date and relevant in real time, so that it’s not just a standalone static tool,” Seed said.
西德說，這將「使資訊保持即時且相關，而不只是一個獨立的靜態工具」。
In Northwestern Ontario, most agricultural land is southwest of Thunder Bay and in the Rainy River District.
在安大略省西北部，大部分農業用地都位於雷灣（Thunder Bay）的西南部和雷尼河區。
“There’s a lot of barriers around things like Crown land access and then being able to find private land can also be a challenge,” she said. “This project is looking at how can we create some linkages in there to create long-term sustainability and make sure that people are able to find land available for agricultural use.”
她說：「在公有地的使用權方面存在很多障礙，而尋找私有地也可能是一個挑戰。這個專案正在研究如何創造一些連結，以實現長期永續性，並確保人們能夠找到可供農業使用的土地。」
“Trying to fill in some of those gaps when we’re talking about agricultural expansion and land use for agriculture in northern Ontario.”
她接著說：「我們正在努力填補北安大略省在農業擴張和土地利用方面的部分空白。」
The roughly $50,000 funding commitment from the provincial Ontario Agri-food Research Initiative will help support the project until 2027.
來自安大略省農業食品研究計畫（Ontario Agri-food Research Initiative）約 50,000 美元的資金承諾，將支持這個專案直到 2027 年。
Seed said a publicly-available resource will likely be online more towards the end of the scheduled timeline.
西德表示，這個公開資源可能要到計畫排程的尾聲才會上線。
“As we go through this project, we very much anticipate it to morph as we go and see what’s actually applicable,” she said. “AI is fairly new to us on that end, so we’re working with a few different developers and experts in the area to help us sort of navigate that side of things.”
她說：「隨著專案的進行，我們非常期待它會不斷演變，並觀察哪些功能真正適用。AI 對我們來說是個相當新的領域，所以我們正與該領域的一些開發者和專家合作，協助我們在這方面摸索。」
“We will be working hard on it on the back end to morph it into something that’s a usable tool.”
「我們將在後台努力工作，把它轉變成一個真正好用的工具。」
source nwonewswatch