Crop Help is a free AI plant-diagnosis web app made for the classroom (Gr 7-12). Students upload a plant photo and get an instant diagnosis — the disease, how serious it is, and how to treat it. No gardens or setup required, and it works on any shared device. This allows for great conversations and experential learning in the classrooms. This tool can be used as teacher-led younger grade students.
Free for classrooms • Works on shared devices • Nothing to install
It is a free web app — no installs, works on shared devices. You set up the whole class in minutes.
Reach out to us. We generate student accounts in bulk with password and a shared upload image quota.
Give the class time-boxed access for your lesson or unit.
Each student uploads a photo and gets a clear diagnosis: disease, severity, and treatment.
Discuss real plant health, diseases, and care using the AI feedback.
Status: Unhealthy • Severity: Moderate
Scientific name: Alternaria solani
Symptoms: Dark concentric spots on lower leaves with yellow margins.
Treatment: Remove affected leaves, improve airflow, and apply a suitable fungicide.
For schools
Crop Help is an AI plant-diagnosis tool that supports — not replaces — student learning in science, agriculture, and environmental studies. Students photograph a real plant, explore what the AI suggests, and learn to question, verify, and reason about the results. It’s designed to meet the AI expectations Ontario school boards set for classroom tools.
Crop Help is a starting point for inquiry. Students still observe, investigate, and draw their own conclusions — the AI gives them something to test their thinking against.
Every diagnosis comes with a confidence score, giving students a natural prompt to check the AI’s answer against what they see, compare sources, and spot when AI gets things wrong.
In Kindergarten to Grade 6, Crop Help is a teacher-guided, whole-class tool so younger students learn about AI without operating it themselves; where a board requires parent consent for AI-featured tools, we support that. In Grades 7 to 12, students can use Crop Help directly in a safe, controlled environment.
Like the board-approved AI tools schools expect, Crop Help does not use student data to train AI models, keeps student data in Canada, and requires no student names or personal profiles. The board is the data custodian; we act as its service provider.
No student personal information is required, location is off by default, and class data is deleted or returned to the board on request. We’re glad to complete a board’s privacy and security review, including an ECNO VASP assessment, before classroom use.
Crop Help is a product of STEM Minds Corp. Each school board sets its own AI rules and approvals; Crop Help is built to meet them.
For schools · Grades 7–12
Crop Help turns real plants into hands-on, inquiry-based learning. Because students photograph an actual specimen and investigate an AI diagnosis, the tool connects naturally to the Ontario curriculum across science, environmental studies, agriculture, and computer/AI studies — while building the AI-literacy skills boards are prioritizing. Below are example connections; teachers adapt them to their course and grade.
Grade 9 Science (SNC1W) · Grade 10 Science (SNC2D/2P) · Biology (SBI3U / SBI3C / SBI4U)
Crop Help gives students a living system to observe, question, and test — supporting plant biology and scientific-inquiry expectations.
Grade 9 “Sustainable Ecosystems & Climate Change” (SNC1W) · Environmental Science (SVN3M / SVN3E)
Plant health is a window into ecosystems, sustainability, and food systems — central themes of Ontario's environmental courses.
Environment SHSM · Agriculture SHSM · Cooperative Education · Technological Education
Crop Help models how technology is used in modern agriculture, supporting sector-specific skills and certifications.
Computer Studies (ICS3U/4U) · Board AI-literacy expectations · Cross-curricular AI learning
Crop Help is a concrete, low-stakes way to teach how AI works and how to use it critically — the skills at the centre of board AI guidance.
Course codes reference the Ontario curriculum (Grade 9 Science 2022; Grades 10–12 Science 2008). Connections are examples for teacher planning and are not endorsed by the Ontario Ministry of Education or any school board. Crop Help is a product of STEM Minds Corp.
Privacy for schools
When a school board uses Crop Help, the board is the custodian of student information and STEM Minds acts as a service provider — processing data only on the board’s instructions, and only to run the class activity.
Your board decides how Crop Help is deployed. Student use is authorized by the board under Ontario law — not by individual parental sign-up.
Just the plant photos students upload and the diagnosis results. No student names, emails, or personal profiles are required.
Student data is stored and processed in Canada. We don’t move it outside Canada without your board’s written authorization.
Student photos and results are used only to generate the diagnosis — never to train AI models, and our AI provider is required not to retain or train on them.
Images are used only for the diagnosis. Location is off by default, and we ask students not to photograph people.
Class data is kept only as long as needed for the activity, and is deleted or returned to your board on request.
Pick the model that matches your board’s privacy and IT requirements.
Lowest data and quickest to launch. We create a small number of shared class logins with a common password and a shared upload quota. Because logins aren’t tied to individual student identities, this collects the least personal information. Intended for supervised, in-class use where activity isn’t attributed to a named student. No student names or profiles required.
Individual accounts, typically via your board’s single sign-on or a class roster. Each student gets their own login, their work stays separate, and you can export or delete an individual student’s data on request. Choose this where your board needs individual accountability or integration with existing school accounts.
Either way, student data is stored in Canada, is never used to train AI models, and is deleted or returned to your board on request. Your board decides which model to use as part of setup.
Crop Help is built and operated by STEM Minds. For hands-on hardware — classroom gardens, hydroponic systems, and grow kits — we work with Boreal Farms and Farm in a Box. Crop Help itself is free software, with no hardware required.
The education company behind Crop Help, with STEM and Agri Tech programs for ages 4 to 18 and the STEAM Hub course platform.
Visit STEM Minds →Our subject matter expert on crops and farming is Boreal Farms where we have a living lab to put our tools to pratice and testing.
Visit Boreal Farms →Classroom grow kits to start plants from seed and other tools and supplies; kits available through our partner kidder.ca.
See grow kits →Our charity partner that supports our sustainability and education projects for the good of the community.
Visit Inno Hive →Create a free account and set up your whole class in minutes, or reach out and we will help you get started.