Greeneye Technology, founded in 2017 by three veterans of Israel’s elite Sheldag commando unit, is using artificial intelligence to enable precision spraying technology that can not only distinguish between crops and weeds, but also classify weeds down to the species level. CEO of the Israel-based company, Nadav Bocher believes there are more effective ways to apply herbicides through precision spraying, and without going broke purchasing new equipment to do so. Along with that, Bocher thinks that over the long-run, precision spraying technology could also change the way agricultural chemicals are sold.
Using their proprietary selective spraying system, Greeneye’s technology will be able to turn every sprayer into a smart machine with seamless integration as each module in their system operates autonomously and is fully compatible with ISOBUS. Also, Greeneye claims that you’ll be able to save up to 90% of your chemical costs, as well as be able to capture and analyze sub-mm images from your fields, providing you with the deepest insight possible, and depending on the size of your farm and herbicide program, your return of investment ranges from 6-18 months.
Greeneye just completed a $22 million funding round in December, including investments from the Syngenta Group Ventures and AGCO, a strong sign to the industry of their confidence in the breakthrough precision spraying tec. Greeneye will not only use the funds to focus on advancing the technology’s analytical capabilities and extending its usage to new inputs and crops, but from what I understand, it will also support its commercial launch in the U.S. in 2022 and its expansion across North America in 2023.
Greeneye is the first company to launch an AI-based precision spraying system in the U.S., and I’m told they have already secured dozens of contracts with farmers in the Midwest who are looking forward to overcoming previous barriers of new tech including accuracy and cost. If successful, Greeneye’s AI and deep learning will detect and spray weeds amongst crops, meaning green on green, with 95.7% accuracy, which is definitely groundbreaking space. It’s worth mentioning that Greeneye’s technology will also feature a dual spraying system with two lines of nozzles along the spray boom, enabling farmers to spray residual and non-residual herbicides separately or simultaneously.
According to Bocher, conventional wisdom dictates that precision spraying technology may threaten chemical sales of agricultural chemical companies, but he believes that companies will still recover value via outcome-based models. Clearly, the writing is on the wall for the future reduction in the use of chemicals when you consider the forces ranging from regulations to herbicide resistance to the advancement of technology that makes the change inevitable. Bocher sees a day where things shift to an outcome-based model, meaning a product is sold by a certain outcome, such as a weed-free field or certain yield goal. It’s amazing to witness all the emerging tech that is using AI and machine learning to only get better with each use. Make sure you’re keeping up as things are changing faster every day! You can learn more about Greeneye HERE. (Source: geektime, jpost.com, agriculture.com, greeneye.ag)