8 More Precision Tech Companies Making the Cut in Specialty Crops

We’ve been touting defense-sector originator AeroVironment’s Quantix Drone and its AV Decision Support Software (DSS) flight planning and image processing portal for quite some time across our various publications here at Meister Media Worldwide, and with good reason: The system’s advanced level of automation and speed of image delivery make it a great tool for row and specialty crop service professionals alike. Back in February the group announced a full suite of product updates, including farm management system (FMS) integration via API with John Deere’s MyJohn Deere Operations Center, a Quick View resolution option the company claims decreases post-flight processing time by up to 50%, and a Plant Count Beta Trial program for on-demand data analytics to quantify stand count and plant emergence, two factors highly correlated to end of season yield, regardless of crop type.

Simply put, when a veritable giant of the aviation industry decides to enter the ag vertical with ambitions to passively image the entire Earth, every single day, folks in ag begin to take notice. The company released Verde earlier this year, which is its imagery delivery analytics/AI platform for deriving insights from the massive amounts of imagery its stratospheric HAPS (High Altitude Pseudo Satellites) that can stay aloft at 30,000+ feet for 3-4 months at a time (powered by solar) and deliver 10- to 20-cm resolution data.

A software outfit out of Yuma, AZ, that got its feet wet in the defense tech sector before pivoting to ag, CropTrak looks to have found a nice niche in helping specialty growers satisfy food processor traceability and sustainability reporting requirements. As we all know, in specialty markets traceability and sustainability are two incredibly important initiatives for the entire production chain to embrace, and until blockchain delivers on its promise to revolutionize produce tracking, growers need tools like CropTrak to keep wholesalers happy. Del Monte Foods, one of the largest processing tomatoes growers in the U.S., has signed on to use CropTrak’s in-field, digital data collection software to connect processing and warehouse systems in order to actualize data as a support for up-the-chain reporting, traceability, and compliance needs.

This group’s patented Robotic Fruit Harvester (pictured) is slated for possible 2020 commercial launch in the U.S., and with no end in sight to the labor challenges that currently plague all angles of the production ag business in the states, solutions that claim to be 10x more efficient than human labor anyways could make for a solid investment. FFRobotics touts its fast and advanced image processing capabilities and algorithms for distinguishing usable versus bruised or unripe produce in the orchard. For 2019 season, they’re testing the system in Washington apple orchards, and a recent effort to partner with other industry players like Automated Ag (Moose Lake, WA) could prove a boon for the startup. Photo courtesy of Robotics Business Review

Harvest CROO Robotics is getting tantalizingly close to launching its Berry 5 (B5) automated strawberry harvester. New for the B5 from the previous B4 iteration is a new, more stable chassis, and company co-founder and president Gary Wishnatzki is on the record as B5 being commercially available either in late fall or early winter of 2019. A solid hook for growers will likely be the fact that there is no need to change the way the berries are grown to apply B5, and it won’t require a driver or need to be pulled behind an orchard tractor.

A recent integration with Bayer’s digital farming ecosystem The Climate Corp. (60 million paid acres) to establish a data-sharing API between Climate FieldView and Lindsay’s FieldNET data management solution is the most notable recent development at the Omaha, NE-based pivot manufacturer. According to the company, shared users of FieldView and FieldNET will see streamlined data transfer, more precise irrigation monitoring, and the ability to visualize and analyze irrigation data in the long-popular FieldView mobile digital ag platform.

Semios spent the last few years building out its automated, remotely controlled climate, insect, and disease monitoring and treatment sensor networks with a laser-like focus on orchard and nursery crops out west. Overcoming the rural broadband issues that plague many such networked IoT offerings in ag meant embracing cellular as its main data transmission signal, and the fact that the network of interconnected canopy sensors and weather stations can monitor for such a wide array of agronomic issues, make Semios an outfit to watch in specialty markets as we turn to the summer months ahead.

Yara is known internationally as a fertilizer company, but the group has some really interesting applications of technology for specialty and row crop growers. On the specialty side is the companies’ Yara Water Solution IoT-network for irrigation scheduling. At the heart of Yara’s platform are the Yara Water Sensors, which measure the minuscule changes in a plant leaf’s turgor pressure – which Yara describes as the water “blood pressure” of the plant. The sensors operate much like the blood-pressure-testing arm cuff at most local drug stores, measuring the pressure caused by fluid pushing against the cell wall of plant cells. Data is processed and visualized in Yara’s MyYara “engagement portal,” and the subsequent validated and crop-specific irrigation recommendations are accessible via web-based software.