CROP FORECASTING AgriData Estimates Months in Advance
By Stephanie Metzinger W hen Cyrille Habis and Prasad Nair embarked on their journey into agricultural technology, they did not envision that their end product would be a revolutionary data imagery package that could forecast yields weeks to months in advance. After all, the two specialized in building robots. “We initially wanted to build a drone or robotics company, but one farmer changed that for us,” said Habis, co-founder and CEO of AgriData. In October 2015, when the duo was first looking for a product to build their business around, they attended a tech conference where they met a large- scale apple grower who was looking for a crop estimation solution. The grower was asking all the drone companies if their
The start-up company takes the camera that is typically used on drones and mounts it on ground vehicles to collect and calibrate data that allows growers to forecast crops up to three month prior to harvest. This data also helps farmers evaluate attributes such as maturity, defects, diseases and pests. The idea behind placing cameras on vehicles such as tractors and loaders comes down to cost savings and accuracy. AgriData wanted a solution that would not add to owners’ labor costs, while simultaneously collecting data. Additionally, the team wanted to eliminate the added costs that typically come with drones, such as hiring a drone operator or spending time, money and resources on employees to become certified to operate a drone. “If you are flying something, you can’t really tell what’s going on. We wanted more imagery precision and knew that having the camera on the ground would provide more accuracy,” said Habis. A light bulb went off for Habis and Nair. They realized that data could be collected while doing everyday activities on the farm, such as applying crop protectants or checking on the crop. AgriData altered the camera to be able to mount to any existing farming vehicle, resulting in no extra labor or equipment cost. DEPLOYMENT TO RESULTS When working with a customer, AgriData visits the operation to identify the vehicles on which the camera would be most effective. The startup then imports a map of the ranch into its comprehensive software solution. To start, companies can survey anywhere from 50 to 300
solution would estimate how much yield his apple orchard would produce that season. No one did. “We listened to his questions and started talking to him to learn more about what his needs were,” said Habis. “After that initial conversation, we were finding that a lot of growers were facing the same type of issue. Crop estimates that were too low or too high both had a significant financial downside to farming businesses. It was a problem worth solving so we went for it and never looked back.” They launched AgriData at the end of 2015. AgriData has built a system that translates crop data from orchards and vineyards into accurate prediction models that allow growers to see what is in the field now and what will be available later.
18 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com JULY | AUGUST 2018
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