Spring in Ohio brings sunshine, blooming flowers – and a deeply hated bug.
The invasive Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) takes flight in warmer temperatures. With no natural predators, the colorful pests wreak havoc on fruit trees and crops. In many areas of the country, residents are ordered to squash the bug on sight.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture places all of Ohio’s 88 counties under SLF quarantine, as of February of this year.
One 15-year old in Butler County has another idea on how to limit their spread. Melody Lin developed a project as part of her local chapter of 4-H that uses AI to assess spotted lanternfly risk for different areas of Ohio.
Her tool won second place in the National 4-H AI in Agriculture Challenge.
Lin joined the Ohio Newsroom to talk about the tool she's developing.
This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
On what inspired her project
“One afternoon when I was on the couch and I was watching TV, a news report came up saying that there was a spread of spotted lanternflies. I saw this invasive spread as an opportunity where I could [solve] this conflict affecting my neighboring farmer communities.”
“One of my neighbors, their trees, had like black sooty mold on it. I wanted to come up with something that would kind of stop the invasive species from attacking all their orchards [and making it] so they wouldn't be able to sell their products to market.”
On how the tool works
“Basically, I used the Ohio Department of Agriculture risk map, which shows which areas in Ohio are under quarantine. I also used a list of nearby apple orchards where the spotted lanternflies could feed on. And then I used the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [data], which lists the current weather in Ohio [and] which basically also shows you where the lanternflies would most likely be. I collected all of this data and I put it into Claude AI, which helped me come up with a model that combines everything and makes it convenient for farmers to see what areas are being impacted and what they could do to stop the problem.”
On her plans for an app
“Since my model isn't an actual app yet and I'm still developing it, I feel like it [gives] a sense of hope that things could be changing in the farming community and that things get better as we progress over time.”
“From the presidential AI challenge that I took part in, I got a bunch of critiques that I could use to develop my app over the summer. Hopefully I can go big and spread my app all over Ohio and then maybe worldwide over time.”
