Food producers increasingly use the latest technologies, from smart irrigation systems, to drones that snap photos high above farm fields, and now, artificial intelligence that aids in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables.
NatureSweet, a San Antonio-based U.S. tomato grower with farms in the U.S. and Mexico, is using A.I. to better protect tomatoes against greenhouse pests and diseases. The technology was designed by the Israeli company Prospera Technologies and helps increase yields and reduce labor costs. NatureSweet began testing technology over a year ago on one of its Arizona farms, and is planning to use it in all six of its locations.
NatureSweet says A.I. will help increase its productions up to 20%. So far, the weekly harvest has grown by 2-4%, that's a significant increase for a company that produces millions of pounds of tomatoes a year.
What's the secret? NatureSweet installed 10 cameras that continuously take pictures of the growing produce. The Prospera Technology cameras are designed to recognize infected or dead plants. Before this, workers had to sweep the greenhouses to find problem plants, which was costly, and there for done only once a week. Now there's 24/7 coverage of the plants, including the testing of new features that will determine when the plants are ready to be harvested.
Prospera's monitoring system uses cameras, solar panels, and temperature, humidity, and light sensors. The recorded images are collected and analyzed using software based in cloud computing. Machine learning is used to identify problems such as illness early, so that farmers can better forecast their harvests and avoid losses. They also monitor greenhouse workers, and make sure everything is running smoothly.
Prospera is based in Tel Aviv, and specializes in A.I. used for monitoring and analyzing crop growth. Its founder, Daniel Koppel, was previously a researcher forecasting half-crop yields via satellite imagery, for use by investors specializing in the grain trade. Instead of continuing that research, he started his own company, which he felt could have a greater impact. Today these services are used by thousands of vegetable and fruit producers that sell their products at Tesco, Aldi, and Walmart (NYSE: WMT).
Recently, Prospera announced $15 million raised from investors such as Qualcomm Ventures (NASDAQ: QCOM) and Cisco Investments (NASDAQ: CSCO). These funds will be used for development and to enter new markets. The company also plans to expand their camera monitoring to other produce such as peppers and potatoes, and in general those grown outside of warehouses, in field, vineyards, and even marijuana farms. The firm would also like to expand to provide products for services such as soil management, farm management, and production optimization.
Its competitors are other firms specializing in agriculture technology, such as Agribotix, and DJI and PrecisionHawk, who have worked together to create Arable, a drone based crop monitoring system designed by Fred Bould, of Nestle (VTX: NESN).