Introduction

Bloom Farms (http://bloomfarms.com.mx/) is an agricultural production company specialized in blueberries. Its main farms are located in Jalisco, Mexico. Bloom Farms produces for Driscoll's, the world's leading berry company.

The objective of this case study is to demonstrate how the digitalization of evaluations, early detection, and monitoring of pests and diseases in crop fields generates a real and tangible benefit for agricultural producers.

Problem statement

Delays in the detection of pests and diseases in crops, and in actions to combat them, reduce the quality of crops and increase production costs.

The client used to record their pest and disease inspections using pencil and paper. There was no traceability of the information collected. This information had to be transcribed into Excel to generate reports - with errors and delays - that didn't allow effective and timely decision-making. For example, the application of pesticides in critical areas of crops.

Traditional pen-and-paper data capture methods are inadequate for optimal farm management for several reasons.

• They do not have geolocation: They do not allow us to know with certainty and confidence the exact location where the data was collected.
• Cannot be shared quickly or immediately: Delays in the transfer of information limit the ability to act in a timely manner.
• They do not have traceability: It is difficult to know which person collected the data, at what time, and other important variables.
• They are difficult to register: Capturing data with pencil and paper while walking among the crops is uncomfortable and prone to errors.

Solution

The implementation of SpaceAG's Plant Protection Module allowed the client to digitize pest and disease monitoring. SpaceAG's mobile app replaced pencil and paper, using cell phones or tablets to capture data. With this information, we implemented maps, reports and alerts defining specific economic damage thresholds by crop and variety. Now, the client acts in a more timely and focused way to address pest and disease problems that arise in their field.

Early detection of pests and diseases:

The Plant Protection Module allows you to respond quickly to the problem, preventing the degree of infestation from spreading. If the problem is located earlier, the need for pesticides and other products is reduced.

• Reduces crop yield losses (increases income)
• Reduces the amount of pesticides applied (reduces pesticide costs)
• Reduces evaluators' time when locating a problem (reduces labor costs)
• Reduces hours spent by typists (reduces labor costs)

Monitor pest and disease thresholds (economic damage) in more effective and accurate ways:

The solution allows us to know which production units (lots, tables, quadrants) need attention in order to apply pesticides in critical places and at the appropriate times.

• Allows more focused and effective applications (increases income due to higher plant yields and reduces pesticide costs).
• Avoids the probability of not being able to export or sell the fruit at a good price (reduces the risk of not complying with certifications and safety conditions).

The digital booklet of phytosanitary evaluations was customized to determine the specific list of the main pests and diseases that affect crops. Likewise, the maps and reports were customized to incorporate the economic damage thresholds - relevant to the user - of each of the pests and diseases considered.

Implementation

The implementation included the following activities:

1. Configuration of cartography or field map with the geographical distribution of the different productive units (tables and sectors).
2. Creation of supervisor and evaluator users with different permission levels (administrator, editor, viewer).
3. Creation of phytosanitary evaluation forms.
4. Creation of evaluators or supervisors with access codes to the SpaceAG application.
5. Assignment of evaluators to created forms.
6. Training evaluators to explain the data capture process and how to upload information to the software.
7. Generation of consolidated and detailed maps (by samples) with color-coding according to thresholds relevant to the client.
8. Generation of personalized reports to visualize the evolution of pests and diseases over time.

The evaluators continued with the pest and disease monitoring process, following the same distribution practices and number of plants monitored. The difference and improvement in this process was the replacement of pencil and paper with a digital pest and disease form to digitize the data capture process.

Training was carried out for the evaluators responsible for capturing information with digital forms.

Subsequently, a field visit was carried out to verify the correct operation of the software by both user evaluators and supervisors.

Results

• Area affected by pests and diseases = 30% of the crop area.
• Improvement in plant performance due to early detection = 5% (of affected area).
• Savings in pesticide costs due to early detection = 15% (of affected area).
• Savings in labor costs due to process digitization = 50% (of monitors' time).

The Plant Protection Module helped the client to:

1. Keep pests and diseases below economic damage thresholds (increasing income through higher yields and reducing pesticide costs through lower application rates)
2. Optimize evaluators' time to capture and share information (reducing labor costs by eliminating typing activities and improving data collection times)

ROI Analysis

Costs associated with the implementation of the Plant Protection Module:

Implementation cost + monthly license cost

Bloom Farms will be able to analyze the historical evolution curves of pests and diseases according to the different phenological stages in order to have better predictions of risks due to phytosanitary problems.

Also, they will be able to correlate information on levels of presence and infestation of pests and diseases with the pesticide applications carried out. With this, they will be able to know which are the most effective products to apply.

Future plans

In addition to the digitalization of digital pest and disease monitoring with the user, new use cases are being implemented to control correct fulfillment of the application plan with SpaceAG software.

The users will have information about the applied active ingredients that are over or under budget. Likewise, they will be able to compare the application of pesticides with the degrees of infestation of pests and diseases in the crops. In this way, they will be able to respond proactively to the presence of phytosanitary problems, improving the productivity and quality of the crops and using the optimal resources to combat pests and diseases in the field.

Bloom Farms will be able to analyze the historical evolution curves of pests and diseases according to the different phenological stages in order to have better predictions of risks due to phytosanitary problems.

In addition, they will be able to correlate information on levels of presence and infestation of pests and diseases with the pesticide applications carried out. With this, they will be able to know which are the most effective products to apply.

The Plant Protection Module made it possible to correlate information on levels of presence and infestation of pests and diseases with climatic variables to improve its predictions of potential phytosanitary problems.

Other agricultural technology or practice that could be integrated with the Plant Protection Module in the future:

Integration with weather centers and other sensors.

Conclusions

• Bloom Farms replaced traditional data capture methods using pencil and paper with the SpaceAG's mobile application, managing to digitize the pest and disease evaluations carried out in crop fields
• The team gained access to maps, reports and alerts to be able to monitor the degree of infestation and the level of presence of pests and diseases. In this way, they were able to act more quickly and with more focus.
• Improvements were achieved in the yield of their crops. Additionally, they were able to reduce the costs of pesticides and other active ingredients, as well as labor costs for capturing and processing information.
• The higher income per hectare and the reduction in costs of active ingredients and typing costs on the part of the client allowed them to obtain an additional income per hectare of more than US$ 1,200.
• In addition to the benefits obtained thanks to this use case, the client will track fulfillment of the application plan in the SpaceAG software. This way, they will have greater control and visibility of the plant protection budget.