Image-Based Plant Disease Detection: A Comparison of Deep Learning and Classical Machine Learning Algorithms

Rapid human population growth requires corresponding increase in food production. Easily spreadable diseases can have a strong negative impact on plant yields and even destroy whole crops. That is why early disease diagnosis and prevention are of very high importance. Traditional methods rely on lab analysis and human expertise which are usually expensive and unavailable in a large part of the undeveloped world. Since smartphones are becoming increasingly present even in the most rural areas, in recent years scientists have turned to automated image analysis as a way of identifying crop diseases. This paper presents the most recent results in this field, and a comparison of deep learning approach with the classical machine learning algorithms.