This is where the farmer logs on to and works with the information our back-end generates. It then communicates with the front-end, our web portal/online tool. The back-end does all the automated data collection and processing, and we spent a lot of time and effort to ensure that this comprises all kinds of data sources. What I can tell you is that our technology consists of a back-end and a front-end component. I am sorry to say, but I can’t tell you that much about it. That means the farmer needs concrete tools that support him in his decision and planning processes on a daily basis.Ĭould you tell us a bit more the Remote sensing algorithm behind GreenSpin? What does your geospatial software infrastructure look like? We want to move from maps to actual decision support. Today we have totally different technological opportunities. It was also probably an analog map, and the farmer was left alone in interpreting the map and deciding what to do with it. This may have been a map depicting fertilizer requirements or just a map of a vegetation index. A few years ago, (satellite-based) precision agriculture mostly meant that the farmers got a map. I can only tell what we think will be important for the farmers. At the core they all want the same: using new, connected technologies and data to improve agricultural efficiency and/or simplify the farmer’s life (if the latter is yet the case remains to be proven). There are just too many of them! Precision farming, Smart Farming, Decision Farming, Digital Cropping etc. I know that I mentioned Decision Farming at some point, but actually I am not a big fan of these terms. What exactly is Decision Farming and how is it different from Precision agriculture, Smart Farming, etc? I think farmers are finally willing to accept this help. But what we want to do is support them as far as possible, and help them use new tools and data so that they can concentrate on the important stuff. The farmers are the ones with the necessary experience and training to do the best job possible, and we would never try to do their job or replace them. Farmers are never going to trust computers (and scientists) more than their own experience. Basically, there is a need to produce more with less input. Public authorities require farmers to comply with a lot of regulations. Farms get bigger and are more professionally managed. And I think what you mean is “experience” □ But times change, and the farmers have also noticed that. We will start in Germany in 2015, but we have plans to quickly expand the coverage of the tool.Īre the farmers (finally) willing to trust computers and researchers more than their age-old traditions? ☺ All processes will be automated, and the tool will be available for all farmers in a certain country. Fertilizer application maps are just one example. The farmer can use this information directly to make decisions or generate certain maps that help in his daily operations. What we are doing at the moment is developing an online tool that simplifies the process of generating information from different data sources. We wanted to change that to a certain extent. However, currently the farmer itself has no real advantage from these new developments. Or at least, simplify a lot of complex processes. Most farmers don’t like that.Ī lot of people in the market think that big data, including but not limited to remote sensing and other geo-data, will take agricultural productivity to the next level. In addition, the farmer often loses his ability to make the actual decisions and he also has to give a lot of data about his business. The data is often too complex and there is a lack of simple solutions based on these data. Only when we began researching the market and talking to people, we realized exactly what potential Agri-Tech offers.Ī lot of people in the market think that big data, including but not limited to remote sensing and other geo-data, will take agricultural productivity to the next level. At that time, however, we didn’t have a complete overview of the current market. When we started in 2013, we believed that these technologies can really benefit agriculture in some way. We all have a background in remote sensing and GIS, our team consists of three geographers and one computer scientist.
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