Introducing our Center-Pivot Analytics Suite to Imagery Solutions

It’s taken a long time to get here, but after much research and partnering directly with growers, we have developed our Center-Pivot Analytics Suite, a full-service imagery solution designed specifically for center-pivot irrigated row crops. We’re excited to share these tools with center-pivot growers and help them learn how combining scientific-grade imagery with data analytics and expert customer support can lead to proactive, instead of reactive, farm management.

The Center-Pivot Analytics Suite is the first imagery solution that uses artificial intelligence to automatically detect, prioritize, and alert farmers of issues in their fields. The analytics suite is specifically designed for operations over 1,000 acres, eliminating the need to sift through hundreds of images to detect issues. The Center-Pivot Suite is available to center-pivot irrigated crops, including corn, soybeans, cotton, and potatoes.

“Farmers expect more than a pretty picture from imagery,” said Ash Madgavkar, CEO of Ceres Imaging. “To be meaningful, imagery must be accurate and scalable and point to easy next steps.”

A Scientifically Validated Solution for the Center-Pivot Market

Known for its scientific accuracy in specialty crops, Ceres Imaging has been methodical about entering the center-pivot irrigated market. Before entering the market, the company flew research fields from the University of Minnesota for independent validations and engaged in a limited release with targeted commercial customers.

“In contrast to other imagery providers that jump into new markets quickly without real scientific validation, we’ve been more conservative with our expansion, waiting to enter until we were confident that we had the most accurate analytics on the market for detecting irrigation issues with imagery,” said Ceres Imaging Vice President of Science James McBride.

Ceres Center-Pivot Analytics Suite’s Three Main Components

Patented Imagery Layers: Ceres Imaging combines scientific-grade image capture from fixed wing planes, including visible/near-infrared and thermal cameras, in a patented imagery analytics process. The output is a suite of imagery layers such as its Water Stress Index, which accurately shows irrigation issues in center-pivot farms, including clogged nozzles, pivot speed issues, and other irrigation uniformity issues.

Automatic Issue Detection: The Center-Pivot Analytics Suite is the only aerial imagery solution that automatically identifies potential in-field issues by tracking changes in the shape, size and magnitude of issues over the course of the season, while controlling for ambient weather conditions, wind and soil variation.

Issue Notification and Prioritization: Issues are automatically ranked by the magnitude of the anomaly, and users are notified of high-concern fields that need their attention.

Improving the Farmer—and Retailer—Experience

For Farmers: The Center-Pivot Analytics Suite makes using imagery easy, because it does much of the interpretation and prioritization. It highlights which fields to focus time on and which ones to prioritize for scouting, all with the industry’s highest degree of accuracy.

For Farm Advisors: The Center-Pivot Analytics Suite helps farm advisors save time and be more efficient in prioritizing which customers and fields to focus on.

For Retailers: The Center-Pivot Analytics Suite provides smart insights into the issues customers are facing so that retailers can be there to support them when needed.

“In the past, we’ve been overwhelmed with what to do with imagery. We were impressed with the accuracy and level of insights that comes with Ceres Imaging. The Center-Pivot Analytics Suite further separates Ceres Imaging from the pack and will make it possible for us to quickly sift through all potential issues and focus our time on the big issues our customers may be facing,” says Shannon Schurbet, owner of Caprock Irrigation of Floydada, TX.

We’ll be at Commodity Classic (Booth #227) and the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show (Booth #1101) this week. Please stop by and say hello. We’d love to tell you about these new advances and learn how we can help your operation move from reactive to proactive.