Flurosat, Agworld, PCT Agcloud, CSIRO and AgLink unite to tackle the fragmented agtech market

FluroSat, Australia’s leading crop health analytics startup, recently led a successful bid with commercial partners; Agworld, PCT Agcloud, AgLink Australia and CSIRO for a A$3M Cooperative Research Centers Project (CRC-P) grant. The aim of the grant funding is to bring growers and agronomists actionable, proactive recommendations by joining previously disparate, and underutilised data streams using machine learning and artificial intelligence.

This grant funds a 3-year project to elevate Flurosat’s existing best-in-class suite of smart tools and combines them with existing and developing data sets brought to the project by partners for agronomic crop insights to create the world's most scalable, high-value analytics engine in agriculture.

As farming operations have significantly increased in scale over the past few decades, farmers can no longer physically “keep an eye” on their crops at all times. They need modern tools that offer real advice and not simply more data to analyze. FluroSat’s platform applies advanced scientific models to remote sensing, field operations and weather data to measure crop performance and make recommendations to improve yields and reduce input costs. Recognising the opportunity to further enrich the insights available to growers through seamless data exchange between FluroSense and the project partners agtech systems, FluroSat CEO Anastasia Volkova championed this cross-industry initiative with the above-mentioned key partners.

Growers and advisors are rightfully overwhelmed by the amount of data available to them and the seasons don’t wait for them to digest and synthesize it all. The partners in this project are taking the lead in resolving the issues plaguing our industry – incompatible data formats, lack of time for analysis, and endless browser tabs. Systems need to talk to each other, run analysis and scientific models in the background and proactively advise users with timely insights. That’s what we are building with the CRC-P support.

FluroSat CEO Anastasia Volkova

AgLink Australia, its members and their farmer clients have been exposed to numerous digital technologies over recent years. To date, the adoption of many of these technologies by the end-user (farmer) has been minimal due to a range of reasons such as market readiness and adequate resources to support and service. This project brings together those leading organisations in this space to provide agronomists and their clients with proactive and practical solutions to improve farm productivity.

Ian Scutt - CEO of Aglink Australia

For this CRC project to be the only one of its kind awarded in the agricultural industry is recognition of the importance of technology supporting future production systems, but also the critical need for collaboration"

Simon Foley - General Manager of Agworld Australia, New Zealand and South Africa

Under the CRC-P, FluroSat and its partners will leverage the FluroSense analytics engine alongside CSIRO models, data from on-farm machinery (PCT AgCloud) and in-field observations (Agworld and Aglink Australia), and machine-learning approaches to provide farmers with accurate and comprehensive information about the performance of their crops. Using the models and data collected from the partner systems via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), FluroSat will accurately predict key crop growth parameters, correcting predictions throughout the season with remote sensing data and generating actionable insights including nutrient recommendations and identifying the reasons for low performing areas within the crop.

High quality data has been the backbone of PCT's data driven actionable insights for nearly 20 years. We are pleased to be a supporting partner for this initiative, as using this type of data with new technologies and techniques will enhance the next step in more timely insights and ultimately helping Australian agronomists and farmers.

PCT’s Business Development Manager, Andrew Bremner

The project is funded for the next 3 years and real results for users the industry will begin within the first year.