Why in news?
Google announced the Agricultural Monitoring & Event Detection (AMED) API in July 2025 to make Indian agriculture more data‑driven. Developed with partners including TerraStack and IIT‑Kharagpur, the tool forms part of Google’s wider AI initiatives in India.
What is the AMED API?
- AMED is an open‑source application programming interface that provides field‑level insights about cropping patterns, land use and events. It uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to deliver data to agri‑tech firms, banks and policymakers.
- The API builds on Google’s earlier Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) API but adds more granular event detection and crop‑specific information.
Objectives
- Enable real‑time crop monitoring across individual fields.
- Inform decision‑making for farmers, agribusinesses, insurance companies and credit providers.
- Support climate adaptation, yield prediction and data‑driven lending in rural areas.
How it works
- Satellite imagery and deep learning models track field activity, crop type and land‑use changes.
- The API provides data on field size, crop season and three‑year land‑use history. It refreshes every two weeks.
- Users can integrate the API into their platforms through plug‑and‑play architecture; data is localised for India’s diverse cropping systems.
Key features
- Crop detection: Identifies crop varieties with high accuracy across seasons.
- Historical data: Offers three years of field‑specific cropping history and land‑use patterns.
- Dynamic updates: Biweekly refreshes capture changing ground realities.
- Localised impact: Assists credit risk assessment, insurance underwriting and climate risk analysis.
Significance
- By democratising agricultural data, AMED can help smallholders adopt precision agriculture and secure timely finance.
- It aligns with India’s drive towards digital agriculture and supports adaptation to climate variability.
- The collaboration with Indian research institutions ensures that the tool is tailored to local conditions and languages.