Precision Agriculture AI/ML Patent Landscape 2026
The precision agriculture AI/ML patent space is in a clear growth phase, with academic institutions — predominantly Indian engineering universities — holding the top positions and commercial technology players occupying a distinct secondary tier. Filing activity has surged on a multi-year basis, with India accounting for the overwhelming majority of jurisdictional coverage, making this one of the most geographically concentrated emerging-technology landscapes observed at this scale.
Indian academic institutions lead a fragmented but rapidly expanding field
CVR College of Engineering holds the top position with 25 patent families, followed closely by SR University at 24 and Lovely Professional University at 20. The leading commercial filers — Accenture Global Services and Deere & Co. — rank sixth and ninth respectively, each with 13–14 patent families, indicating that academic output currently defines the competitive frontier.
The top five filers account for 20% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers, signaling a moderately fragmented field with no single dominant actor able to set the agenda unilaterally. The gap between the top academic cluster and the commercial tier is narrow in absolute terms, suggesting the competitive structure could shift quickly as commercial players accelerate.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CVR College of Engineering | 25 | |
| 2 | SR University | 24 | |
| 3 | Lovely Professional University | 20 | |
| 4 | Cohen Harris Lee | 17 | |
| 5 | Chandigarh University | 16 | |
| 6 | Accenture Global Services Ltd | 14 | |
| 7 | Vaibhav Laxman Dhasal | 14 | |
| 8 | Manipal University Jaipur | 13 | |
| 9 | DEERE & CO | 13 | |
| 10 | Stout Industrial Technology Inc | 13 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | SAVEETHA INST OF MEDICAL & TECH SCI | 11 | |
| 12 | Saveetha Engineering College | 11 | |
| 13 | Tata Consultancy Services Ltd | 10 | |
| 14 | Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation | 9 | |
| 15 | Agri Technovation (Pty) Ltd | 9 | |
| 16 | REVA University | 8 | |
| 17 | Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai | 7 | |
| 18 | Sri Eshwar College of Engineering | 7 | |
| 19 | North Carolina State University | 6 | |
| 20 | Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering | 6 |
The leaders’ positions imply that IP barriers from any single incumbent are limited: no filer has yet built a blocking portfolio of the scale typically seen in mature technology fields. This creates near-term room for well-targeted commercial entrants to establish differentiated positions, particularly in applied and hardware-integrated routes where academic filings are thinner.
Activity in the most recent 18–24 months is likely understated due to standard patent publication lag; current totals should be treated as a lower bound for that period. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filings have accelerated sharply since 2021; AI computing dominates the technology mix
Two complementary views — annual filing volume and IPC technology composition — together explain both the pace and the character of innovation activity in this space.
Annual filing trend
Filing volume was modest and relatively flat from 2017 through 2020, then began climbing sharply from 2021 onward, consistent with the 263% growth recorded over the recent window. The 2025 and 2026 bars are subject to publication lag and should be read as partial counts; the underlying trajectory is nonetheless clearly upward.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
G06N (AI computing models) is by far the dominant branch, reflecting the field’s core algorithmic focus. G06Q (business and administrative data processing) and A01B (soil working in agriculture) are the second and third largest branches, indicating that applied agronomic and decision-support use cases are well represented alongside core ML work. Branches such as A01C (planting and sowing), A01M (pest control), and B64U (unmanned aerial vehicles) are present but comparatively sparse, pointing to areas where the technology mix has not yet converged.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Method for prediction of soil and/or plant condition
A method and system for predicting soil and/or plant condition in precision agriculture with a classification of measurement data for providing an assignment of a measurement parcel to classes of interest. The assignment is used for providing action recommendations, particularly in real time or close to real time, to a farmer and/or to an agricultural… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mapping and analysis system for precision farming … | 440 |
| 2 | Precision agriculture system | 219 |
| 3 | Pest occurrence risk assessment and prediction in … | 182 |
| 4 | Precision agriculture system | 75 |
| 5 | Management zones for precision farming | 68 |
| 6 | Method for prediction of soil and/or plant condition | 56 |
| 7 | Precision agriculture system | 44 |
| 8 | Computer-implemented methods, computer readable me… | 42 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural dimensions — maturity, concentration, collaboration, and geography — each carry distinct implications for teams deciding where and how to invest.
Growth stage: annual filings still rising
The field is in a confirmed growth stage, with annual filing volume climbing consistently and the most recent years understated by publication lag. The 263% growth rate across the recent window confirms that the technology has moved well past early exploration but has not yet reached the plateau typical of mature fields. This is a window in which filing strategy can still establish durable positions.
Growth stageFragmented top tier; no blocking incumbent
The top five filers hold 20% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output — moderate concentration that leaves substantial room for new entrants. Academic institutions occupy most leading slots, meaning that commercially oriented portfolios covering hardware integration, real-time inference, or specific crop systems are not yet controlled by any single entity. The tier gap between academic leaders and commercial players (Accenture, Deere) is narrow enough that targeted investment could close it quickly.
FragmentedLimited co-filing activity; Accenture entities the only confirmed pair
The only documented co-filing relationship in the evidence is between Accenture Global Services and Accenture Global Solutions — two related Accenture entities that jointly filed 3 patent families. No cross-institutional or industry-academic co-filing pairs are present in the data. This absence of broad collaborative networks may reflect the early-stage, academic-output-driven character of the field, and also means that ecosystem-level IP alliances have not yet formed.
Low collaborationIndia-dominant filing base; US and China secondary
India accounts for 833 of the jurisdictional records, making it by far the primary filing office and consistent with the academic-institution profile of the leading applicants. The United States is the second jurisdiction at 74 records, followed by China at 49. Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) filings are minimal. Commercial players seeking international protection should note that most existing filings are India-only, leaving non-Indian markets comparatively open.
India-concentratedGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Accenture Global Services Ltd | Accenture Global Solutions Ltd | 3 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Academic institutions lead on volume; commercial players differentiate on applied and hardware routes
CVR College of Engineering holds the top rank by family count, with a technology emphasis spanning AI models, business data processing, and soil-working applications. Among commercial players, Stout Industrial Technology stands out for its image-recognition and soil-working focus — a more applied, hardware-adjacent profile than the dominant academic filers.
CVR College of Engineering
CVR College of Engineering holds the top position with 25 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in momentum terms, with 7 families filed in the recent period. Its technology emphasis spans G06Q (business and administrative data processing), G06N (AI computing models), and A01B (soil working in agriculture) — a broad, AI-first focus characteristic of academic portfolio building rather than targeted commercial application.
families: 25Stout Industrial Technology
Stout Industrial Technology ranks tenth with 13 patent families and is also a new entrant by momentum, with 8 recent families — a notably active recent pace for a commercial filer of its scale. Its technology focus is concentrated on A01B (soil working in agriculture) and G06V (image and video recognition), with a secondary position in A01B63, indicating a more applied, machine-vision-driven approach to field automation that contrasts with the broader AI-model emphasis of academic leaders.
families: 13| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| CVR College of Engineering | 7 | ▲ new entrant |
| Lovely Professional University | 12 | ▲ new entrant |
| Chandigarh University | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
| Stout Industrial Technology Inc | 8 | ▲ new entrant |
| Manipal University Jaipur | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant AI computing core
Several IPC branches appear at lower relative share alongside the dominant G06N and G06Q classes; three in particular have plausible technical value for precision agriculture that has not yet been extensively captured in the patent record.
A01C · Planting & Sowing — AI-guided precision application
A01C (planting and sowing) accounts for 120 patent records — a 3% share — despite being a direct operational target for AI-driven variable-rate seeding and transplanting systems. The branch sits adjacent to the heavily filed A01B (soil working) cluster and to the image-recognition work in G06V, making it a natural extension for teams combining soil data inference with actuator control. The relatively sparse filing density means that well-scoped patents covering ML-guided seed placement or adaptive row spacing could establish early positions without navigating a dense prior-art thicket.
Search this in Eureka →B64U · Unmanned Aerial Vehicles — drone-based field intelligence
B64U (unmanned aerial vehicles) appears at only 19 patent records despite drones being a widely discussed sensing and actuation platform in precision agriculture. The sparse count contrasts with the more developed G06V (image recognition, 259 records) and H04L (digital transmission, 132 records) branches that would naturally connect to drone-borne sensing payloads. Teams working on onboard inference, multi-drone coordination, or drone-to-ground data pipelines have room to build differentiated IP with limited direct competition in this branch.
Search this in Eureka →How leading filers differ across technology routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | G06Q 50 · Business, commerce & admin data processing | G06N 20 · Computing based on AI models | A01B 79 · Soil working in agriculture | G06N 3 · Computing based on AI models | A01G 25 · Horticulture & forestry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVR College of Engineering | Strong · 18 | Strong · 10 | Strong · 10 | Strong · 14 | Emerging · 2 |
| Cohen Harris Lee | Strong · 9 | Strong · 17 | Strong · 9 | Strong · 10 | Moderate · 4 |
| Chandigarh University | Strong · 11 | Strong · 10 | Strong · 11 | Moderate · 4 | Strong · 6 |
| SR University | Strong · 11 | Strong · 11 | Absent | Strong · 18 | Absent |
| Lovely Professional University | Strong · 8 | Strong · 10 | Strong · 15 | Absent | Absent |
| Accenture Global Services Ltd | Strong · 12 | Strong · 11 | Strong · 8 | Absent | Absent |
| Manipal University Jaipur | Strong · 8 | Strong · 6 | Strong · 11 | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 988 patent families. Activity in the most recent 18–24 months is likely understated due to publication lag, so this total should be treated as a lower bound for current activity.
CVR College of Engineering leads with 25 patent families, followed by SR University at 24 and Lovely Professional University at 20. The top-ranked filers are predominantly Indian academic and engineering institutions.
G06N (computing based on AI models) is the dominant branch, followed by G06Q (business and administrative data processing) and A01B (soil working in agriculture). This mix reflects a field still heavily weighted toward algorithmic and decision-support innovation rather than hardware-integrated applications.
India is by far the leading jurisdiction, accounting for 833 of the jurisdictional records. The United States is second at 74, followed by China at 49. Europe (EPO), WIPO (PCT), Australia, and Israel each account for fewer than 12 records, indicating that most existing filings have not pursued broad international protection.
The field is in a growth stage. Annual filing volume has been rising consistently, and the 263% growth rate across the recent window confirms sustained acceleration. The most recent years are partially understated by publication lag.
Two branches stand out as relatively sparse given their relevance: A01C (planting and sowing), with 120 patent records and a 3% share, and B64U (unmanned aerial vehicles), with only 19 records. Both connect directly to applied precision agriculture workflows and sit adjacent to more densely filed branches, suggesting room for targeted IP development.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
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