For seven years, the team at Evergreen FS has been exploring and refining the potential to use imagery for agronomic decisions with its Agtrinsic platform. And now after a multi-year partnership to bring advanced disease predictions to row crops in the Midwest, Agtrinsic and Ceres Imaging are bringing forward the Field Disease Risk product as part of the platform.
“We think this is a unique proactive way to assess disease risk and disease developments in the season to change the way fungicides can be applied,” says Matt Free agronomy department manager at Evergreen FS. “We don’t want to ever default to say, ‘you need to apply a fungicide.’ We want to use data, artificial intelligence and boots on the ground to drive decisions---beyond just selling product.”
The Field Disease Risk product on the Agtrinsic platform has four steps:
- Agtrinsic monitors for regional disease risk through its network.
- When Agtrinsic flags a region as high risk for disease pressure through AI technology, it triggers a field level analysis by Ceres Imaging.
- Ceres Imaging combines satellite data and its patented algorithms to assess disease risk at a farm and field level as part of its Field Disease Risk solution.
- Ceres Imaging then delivers a fungicide recommendation in the Agtrinsic app. The recommendation includes:
- Which pathogens are of greatest concern.
- A low, medium or high score based on field level disease risk.
- A flat or variable rate fungicide application recommendation for the best return on investment.
The combined solution was deployed on 100,000 acres in Illinois in 2021. As a retailer dealing with tight supply chain inventory, Free says it is especially timely to be able to use this technology across a large geography.
“You may only have one chance to apply a fungicide this year,” Free says, referencing specifically the tight fungicide availability of 2022. “We need to help farmers protect the yield out there and give the plants the best chance to increase yields. With how the weather patterns are already setting up for the growing season, we want to give farmers the best chance for the best outcome. If you can tell 10 days before the disease pressure really sets in, that could be the decision that leads to success.”
Kirk Stueve, PhD, Remote Sensing & Precision Agronomy With Ceres Imaging says this application of technology provides an enhanced view of disease pressure, a possible reduction of input costs, and overall gives a strong example of how technology assists agronomic in-season decisions.
“Imagery has been around ag for a long time, and scientific grade imagery was at the heart of our company’s formative years. Now we are able to transition to a precision agriculture solutions company connecting value to pixels. We are able to now layer data, funnel data sources and provide in-season intelligence to deliver growers actionable information,” Stueve says.
The product can be used on corn and soybeans. At Evergreen FS, Free reports great success in monitoring annual disease problems such as gray leaf spot and rusts, but also Agtrinsic has had success in monitoring and managing emerging diseases such as tar spot.
He also shares that the use of the Agtrinsic app has improved communication with customers.
“The dashboard allows us to communicate with customers differently. Customers get a text when a crop scout leaves a field or when imagery has detected an important issue. And they can communicate back and forth with their adviser on the app,” he says.
In addition to the disease monitoring and prescriptions, Agtrinsic also has functionality with replant decisions via its stand count application.
“This is about helping customers make better decisions and providing additional validation. Our scouts are able to spot issues out in the field, go out and validate the problems. Having strong relationships with farmers is what our business is about. And we want to help them make tough decisions in tough times. This platform allows them to make better decisions and make more money,” Free says.
