H2020 AGERPIX Project: Artificial intelligence for yield estimations in fruit orchards

Tree Fruit Detection System Aids Precision Farming The high-precision fruit counting system uses artificial intelligence to help farmers optimize harvests and plan market sales. Farmers need to know their expected yields so they can plan accordingly. But counting fruit is a time-consuming task. The EU-funded AGERPIX project has devised a more efficient way for agricultural suppliers: an automated tree fruit counting system. It allows growers to assess the quantity of fruit they will grow with accuracy levels of up to 95%.

The system developed by AGERPIX allows farmers to assess the orchard tree by tree, determines plant vigor, provides a leafiness index, and lets them know exactly which areas are most productive. Through the use of cameras, precision positioning, and artificial intelligence (AI), it enables farmers to gather the true production values of their farms. The system offers multiple benefits, including orchard management, logistics fleet organization, optimization of cold storage equipment, shipping, and human resources, improved data processing and costs, and perhaps most importantly, improved fruit quality.

"In short, the goal is to make plantations produce more, better, and with fewer resources," says David Frances, CEO of Agerpix Technologies, the project host. The roving detector system travels through the plantations, row by row, with a series of sensors carried on a quad bike. The data received through the system is analyzed and processed with AI to identify the separated fruit on each tree. The results are then delivered to the producer and can be accessed from any device. "AI is a very applicable technology to crops; it allows us to generate harvest predictions, fruit phenological status, plant vigor, and potential pests," notes Frances, AGERPIX project coordinator. The system is able to identify the plant's physiological state, allowing it to detect nutrient deficiencies, water stress, and diseases. All production data, records, and analysis are stored securely and privately in the cloud. A "night operations" mode allows the system to operate in all conditions.

The high-performance, energy-efficient LED lighting means it can operate at night without interfering with other farming tasks. The integrated GPS component provides highly accurate georeferenced data, separating plots of land according to their corresponding production values.

This is an incredibly useful tool for farmers to see where their land's strengths lie. The product is currently offered as a service, but the company plans to develop fully autonomous data collection systems in the future. Fueling the Future "With society's growing demand for food, population growth, the problem of water insufficiency, and the impossibility of new crop fields, increasing plantation productivity is critical, and that's our fundamental goal," Frances explains. The EU grant helped the team generate and focus their business plan, which they are now moving forward to implement.

Agerpix will continue to generate value through its information, Frances adds: "To do this, we are developing new ways to help producers make better decisions." The company is further developing the technology to increase the number of species and varieties the system can detect. "We continue to develop other types of products related to precision agriculture, solving problems raised by producers themselves," says Frances.