Johannesburg – South Africa’s Aerobotics uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help fruit and nut farmers improve crop yields. Although the Cape Town-based company was founded just nine years ago, he already has operations in 18 countries, with the United States being the biggest market, followed by South Africa, Australia, Spain, Portugal follows. Its customers produce tens of millions of tons of fresh produce each year.
California is currently home to Aerobotics and has the highest concentration of the company’s customers. With 76,000 farms and ranches, the state produces more than half of the fruits and vegetables grown in the United States, sources agree.
The California Climate and Agriculture Network recently warned in a recent statement that “the state stands to lose a lot if it cannot avoid the worst impacts of climate change on agriculture, depending on weather and water availability.” did.
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Aerobotics maps more than 600,000 acres of U.S. farmland, and growers upload more than 1 million fruit images each month through its AI platform. (Aerobotics.)
That’s where Aerobotics steps in, using AI to reverse these trends and almost miraculously not only grow more crops, but directly contribute to more efficient use of dwindling water resources. I was able to do.
“Food security is a global challenge, challenging everyone to do more with less,” CEO James Patterson told Fox News. “Using the latest AI and a variety of image sources, aerobotics is helping the fruit and nut industry make better decisions and improve yields.” Digital. ”
He added, “We work with a variety of fruit and nut growers across the country, from citrus and table grape growers in California, to apple growers in Washington, to nut growers in Arizona and New Mexico. We’ve mapped over 600,000 acres of farmland.” In the US, growers upload over 1 million fruit images each month through our platform and use our system. Expanding my knowledge. ”
What is artificial intelligence (AI)?
South African company uses AI to help farmers in the US and 18 other countries. (Aerobotics)
Mr. Patterson, who has offices in Cape Town and California, grew up on an orchard in South Africa and saw firsthand the severe risks involved in fruit production. This planted the proverbial seed of finding ways to use data to improve operations and knowledge.
During his master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he worked with cutting-edge AI and drone technology to learn how to address agricultural challenges. He then teamed up with vision and software systems expert Benji Meltzer to create the current 60-person aerobotics team.
Drones and mobile phones running AI software are operated by farmers and professional drone pilots, yielding data on both fruit and trees.
A porch or balcony favored by farmers around the world in South Africa is known as a “stope”. Patterson proudly proclaims that this is “stepping stone farming.” Drones allow farmers to assess their crops from their armchairs.
Drones and mobile phones running AI software are operated by farmers and professional drone pilots, yielding data on both fruit and trees. (St. Petersburg)
In this case, perhaps AI could feed data and images to servers, like aerobotics software or AWS or Amazon Web Services, and use that information to report on the health and condition of the fruit and improve crop yields. Forecasting can lead to criticism. The information you receive will help you plan your packhouse, sales team, and retail stores.
And it saves a huge amount of time and reduces hours of chores like checking for pesky pests. In a statement, AWS claimed that the AI system reduced pest and disease monitoring of all trees on a 50-hectare farm from one full day to just one day. 20 min.
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This data-driven approach helps produce high-value fruits and nuts. (St. Petersburg)
The images are “analyzed by an AI model that detects individual fruit and calculates various metrics such as size, color, appearance quality and blemishes,” Patterson told FOX News Digital.
“This data is analyzed through a hyperlocal predictive model to predict the data for harvest.”
“As data accumulates on the farm, the model is fine-tuned to that specific environment. Essentially, AI models learn and adapt to local growing conditions, improving predictive accuracy and It allows for year-on-year comparisons,” Patterson added.
Another AI program creates digital models of each tree on the farm at scale and tracks them over time. “Each tree is conceptualized as a factory that can be optimized to produce the highest quality fruit. Data is collected using thermal and multispectral cameras, operated by the grower or through a third-party pilot network. It will be collected by drone,” Patterson added.
An irrigation canal runs through farmland on June 16, 2021 in Lemoore, California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
In this increasingly water-scarce world, Aerobotics AI also detects irrigation problems such as water leaks, pressure issues, and blockages in taps and pipes. This software assists in the use of fertilizers and replanting of damaged or lost trees. Normally, when a farmer loses a tree due to disease etc., he has to wait 5-6 years until the new tree starts producing fully, but with this AI, early prediction is possible and the farmer He will be able to resume production within a year.
AI will also improve U.S. food security by leveraging tree-by-tree data to determine crop insurance policies and protect growers’ production.
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This data-driven approach helps produce high-value fruits such as citrus, apples, grapes, cherries, kiwis, table grapes, and pomegranates, as well as nuts such as almonds, pecans, and pistachios.
“We started using drone imagery to monitor the health of trees in our orchards,” Aerobotics customer and pecan grower Matt Allred of North Bowie Farming, Arizona, told Fox News. told Digital. “By reviewing the drone imagery, we were able to see which blocks had poor health ratings and apply treatments over time.”
“Multiple flights over a long period of time show that the health of these blocks catches up with the control blocks after intervention. Drone flights measure this over hundreds of acres, not just one small block. It’s really important to see improvements in block health uniformity.” That’s what sold me on the technology. ”
“AI plays a critical role for our business and our customers,” Aerobotics’ Patterson concluded. “With AI, we can build models that generalize, learn, and operate effectively at scale. By using AI and imagery, we can increase the efficiency of data collection by more than 10 times. .”
