technology.” An autonomous swarm of drones can cover a farm fast and precise, or “spot spray” zones in the farm can be targeted to greatly reduce chemical use. The company touts its servicer as reducing labor, operational and service costs while boosting productivity and safety. Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System is designed to counter rising costs with precision. With rising production costs weighing heavily on growers’ minds, agtech company Smart Apply is attempting to bring significant relief to a growing number of orchards and vineyards around the world. Drawn by the system’s ability to reduce chemical and water usage by an average of 50 percent per season, Smart Apply, previously marketed under the name Smart Guided, held live demonstrations this spring, and reports that it connected with new dealers and experienced strong sales. In addition to cost savings, Smart Apply also supports growers’ sustainability initiatives. Because chemicals are applied to each tree or vine with precision, drift and excess chemical
runoff are virtually non-issues, a major win for the environment. According to CEO Jerry Johnson, Smart Apply has more than doubled its dealer network from seven to 19 with representation in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, and Peru. Sales of the Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System, which is sold as a kit that is compatible with most air blast sprayers, doubled in 2021. Sales are on track to double again this year. Soiltech Wireless is a grower-driven company, developing solutions to address farmers’ most pressing operational needs. At its core, the wireless soil moisture, temperature and humidity sensor can serve many purposes for a wide variety of crop types. In addition to measuring soil moisture, temperature and humidity, the sensor incorporates an early disease indication alert system, forward-looking weather forecasting, and chill hours and GDD calculators, which provide field insights into different crop stages. All these data insights are supported through Soiltech's proprietary software platform,
which enables access to real-time insights and allows for seamless collaboration among several stakeholders (growers, consultants, PCAs, and processors) on items, including field notation and chemical, irrigation, and nutrition tracking. Founded in 2014, Tule helps growers make irrigation decisions. Tule combines agronomic expertise with cutting- edge technology to answer growers’ critical crop water stress and irrigation questions. With their sensor product, Tule provides growers with crop water use measurements, crop water stress information, applied irrigation monitoring and irrigation recommendations. With its new A.I. product, Tule Vision, growers take pictures of their vines and get the midday leaf water potential, replacing the need for the pressure chamber in vineyards. As an organization, Tule is dedicated to helping growers take advantage of funding through SWEEP grants to save water and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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