Samsung x Croptimistic - revolutionary tech for farmers and agronomists.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com
Croptimistic Technology Inc. and Samsung are saving farmers and agronomists across the globe time and money with a new, revolutionary technology.
For Canada’s 300,000 farmers, analyzing early-stage crop growth across hundreds or thousands of acres of land can feel like an impossible task. It’s the reason Croptimistic, an international AgTech company, began work on a product that would provide agronomists and farmers with the vital information they need in an efficient and easy-to-access manner.
Croptimistic is best known for its SWAT (Soil, Water, and Topography) MAPS variable rate field mapping and prescription process. This process is used by agronomists and farmers around the world to optimize the rates and placement of their seed and fertilizer.
Derek Rude, A.Sc.T., Vice President of Research and Development with Croptimistic said: “At Croptimistic we’re all about collecting meaningful agronomic data economically so a positive ROI (return on investment) for the farmer is easily attainable. This goal requires automation of data collection and analysis processes. The Samsung partnership was a great fit for us because it provided that economical, programmable, and easily deployable data collection package that we needed for our SWAT CAM product to scale globally. SWAT CAM is an exciting project for us at Croptimistic and we believe we’re just scratching the surface of it’s potential worldwide."
One of Croptimistic’s newest products, SWAT CAM, was developed to evaluate early-stage crop emergence at sub-plant level detail. Integrating two Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphones onto large agriculture sprayers, the automated SWAT CAM system collects images of crops every 50-70 feet (~15.25-21.3 metres) which are then processed by machine learning models to extract the crop and weed leaf area separately for a full analysis of crop establishment early in the season.
What differentiates SWAT CAM from commercially available satellite imagery products is satellite imagery is not able to distinguish between crop and weeds easily and can not provide sub plant level detail images throughout a field like SWAT CAM.
When a crop or weed map is created the farmer or agronomist is able to view any of thousands of individual images overlaid over the crop map or SWAT Zone MAP which provides that instant correlation of visual observation to a crop or weed map that satellite imagery doesn’t provide.
Data outputs from the images are plant and weed density maps as well as summarization of the data by SWAT MAPS Zone. By analysing the data by SWAT Zone agronomists can link the crop establishment and weed populations to the known soil and water properties of each SWAT zone.
With this connection, agronomists are better informed when adjusting seeding and fertilization strategies to maximize ROI from each SWAT Zone.
The large aperture camera on the Galaxy S10 allows sufficient light to illuminate the image plane—even at speeds up to 30 km/h and/or in low lighting.
Prior to this innovation, images were manually captured via digital camera by Croptimistic’s agronomists—a lengthy, and inefficient process.
Along with its robustness, the Galaxy S10 was completely programmable and thus easily able to suit the company’s software needs.
By using the Samsung Knox Platform for Enterprise, the Knox Manage, and Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) system, an entire fleet of Galaxy S10 devices can be configured, deployed, and managed remotely by the company.
Since the implementation of Samsung devices and Knox Solutions, Croptimistic has been collecting 2,000x more images and delivering more meaningful analyses to farmers to help them make better crop management decisions.
To learn more about the benefits of this technology for farmers, visit the Samsung Canada Newsroom.