Like the growers we serve, Ceres Imaging is already looking past harvest to the 2021 season. We're rolling out a highly anticipated new feature for producers of tree nuts and other orchard crops—and creating new opportunities to optimize irrigation strategy.
While we already provide aerial data at the field level, the Ceres Imaging app for the first time will offer the ability to sort, measure, identify trends, and track progress at the individual plant level.
It’s a strong complement to the “big picture” view of an orchard—and it’s designed to help growers answer the questions that really matter to their bottom line:
- Is my irrigation strategy really working?
- Where should I focus my time and resources for maximum ROI?
- Are some varietals more stressed than others?
Orchard data at the field level (top) versus at the tree level (bottom).
Like other major advances developed by Ceres Imaging's in-house research team—including the Cumulative Stress Index and VRA zone creation tool—the evolution to plant-level insights was driven by input from top growers who found their irrigation strategy needs were not met by existing technology.
“Other companies can do counts of trees and show individual trees," says Ceres Imaging CEO and founder Ashwin Madgavkar, "but high-accuracy water stress data on a tree level from imagery hasn’t been available to growers until now.”
“Irrigation is complex, and even subtle inefficiencies compound over time to have a big impact on yield and profit,” Madgavkar says. "It’s often difficult to know if your irrigation strategy is achieving the results it should, so having insights at the plant level provides a cost-effective solution.”
Growers can now more easily track their progress—as in this example, comparing the number of stressed trees at two different points in the season.
Growers working with Ceres Imaging in the 2021 season will find an upgraded app interface that allows them to quantify patterns of crop stress and prioritize corrective action. The ability to assess trends in tree health helps ensure that time-strapped orchard managers are focusing on the issues that will most impact ROI.
In addition, growers can:
- Uncover patterns and trends by analyzing trees according to varietal or level of stress.
- Quantify water stress, chlorophyll, and NDVI by tree.
- Establish numerical baselines to benchmark irrigation performance and measure improvements over time.
Plant-level insights are available to Ceres Imaging orchard customers in North America—contact us to learn more.