A Novel Ensemble Machine Learning Algorithm for Predicting the Suitable Crop to Cultivate Based on Soil and Environment Characteristics

Abstract

Research in agriculture is a promising field, and crop prediction for particular land areas is especially critical to agriculture. Such prediction depends on the soil, minerals, and environment, the last of which has been short-changed by changing climatic conditions. Consequently, crop prediction for a particular zone presents difficulties for farmers. This is where machine learning (ML) steps in with techniques that are widely applied in agriculture. This work proposes a weighted stacked ensemble (WSE) method for the crop prediction process. It combines two base learners or classifiers to construct the WSE, which is a single predictive ensemble model, using weighted instances. The experimental outcomes show that the proposed WSE outperforms other classification and ensemble techniques in terms of improved crop prediction accuracy.