Agriculture in the AI Era

As climate change, soil degradation, and fertilizer inputs challenge global food systems, the future of agriculture depends on scalable, efficient, and sustainable solutions. At the same time during periods of change and conflict, we need food systems are resilient, local, and robust for humans to stay free, autonomous and independent.

Can AI and automation revolutionize small-scale local food production? Good Ancestor is actively exploring that question.

We're focused on AI-driven hydroponics, automated agriculture, and high-tech grow systems to evaluate their potential for regenerative, climate-resilient farming. This work includes:

• Testing Growbot’s AI-powered hydroponic technology for self-sustaining food production
• A visit to Premifarm and Laavatech in Estonia to benchmark costs, efficiency, and scalability of commercial smart agriculture systems
• Exploring open-source vs. closed-source models for decentralized farming
• Comparing different AI and automation-based growing systems to determine their effectiveness for small-scale and regenerative agriculture

Testing Growbot: AI-Powered Hydroponics in Action

Through the Future Agriculture Systems Grant, Good Ancestor partnered with James Brake of Growbot to test an open-source AI-driven hydroponic system designed for small-scale and extreme-environment farming, including rapid growing of produce for space travel and colonization in pressure vessels that mimic the high pressure environment of the Jurassic period to stimulate rapid plant growth.

What Growbot Is Testing:

• AI-controlled climate management that fine-tunes humidity, temperature, and light cycles
• Automated nutrient delivery systems to optimize growth and minimize waste
• Experimental high-pressure atmospheric farming, replicating prehistoric Earth conditions to accelerate plant growth to levels not seen since dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Why It Matters:

A self-sustaining, AI-powered hydroponic system could be a breakthrough for food production in climate-vulnerable regions, urban environments, and even space exploration. If successful, this approach could provide a low-maintenance, high-efficiency food production model that reduces dependence on traditional agriculture.

Premifarm & Laavatech: Lessons from Estonia’s Ag-Tech Leaders

To compare different models of controlled-environment farming, Good Ancestor visited two cutting-edge agricultural startups in Estonia—Premifarm and Laavatech—which focus on hydroponics and smart farming technology.

What We Learned from Premifarm:

• Vertical farming technology that maximizes crop production in minimal space
• Closed-system hydroponics designed for high-yield, year-round growing
• Advanced water recycling and energy-efficient lighting to reduce resource use

What We Learned from Laavatech:

• High-performance LED lighting optimized for plant growth at lower energy costs
• Real-time plant health monitoring using data-driven farming techniques
• Challenges in balancing cost and accessibility when scaling closed-source technologies

Key Takeaways:

While Premifarm and Laavatech have built impressive data-driven, high-yield systems, they rely on closed-source, high-cost technology, making them less accessible to small farmers and decentralized agriculture projects. This reinforced Good Ancestor’s focus on open-source solutions that can be affordable, adaptable, and widely replicated.

The Open-Source Farming Revolution: Making AI Agriculture Accessible

A major barrier to widespread adoption of AI-driven farming is cost and accessibility. Many high-tech solutions are proprietary and expensive, limiting their use to large-scale commercial farms.

Good Ancestor is committed to open-source, decentralized farming technologies that can be shared, modified, and implemented by farmers, researchers, and communities worldwide.

How We Are Advancing Open-Source AI Farming:

• Partnering with Growbot to develop and distribute AI-powered hydroponic tools
• Collaborating with Open Source Ecology to design affordable, modular farming equipment
• Supporting research into community-driven, decentralized agriculture models
• Testing and documenting results so others can replicate successful strategies

Scaling Smart Regenerative Agriculture: Next Steps

The next phase of our work will focus on:

• Expanding AI hydroponics trials by installing six Growbot units in different climate regions
• Integrating smart hydroponic technology into our geothermal greenhouse to combine automation with regenerative agriculture
• Developing an open-source knowledge base to share insights from Growbot, Premifarm, and Laavatech research
• Exploring new funding models, including Eco-Endowment investments and NFT-based agricultural investments

The Future of Food is Smart, Sustainable, and Open-Source

Agriculture is at a turning point. By testing AI-driven farming, geothermal greenhouses, and decentralized food production systems, Good Ancestor is demonstrating how technology and regenerative agriculture can work together to create resilient, scalable, and sustainable food systems.