Show Rural Coopavel 2022 – FMC launches platform that predicts pest attack

Last week, FMC introduced the Arc farm intelligence platform, which uses sensor data and artificial intelligence to predict the arrival of pests in crops a week in advance. 

The launch and demonstration of the technology took place during Show Rural Coopavel 2022, a fair where AgroPages was present to bring the main news.

The Arc farm intelligence platform uses predictive modeling based on real-time data to help the farmer decide the right products to use in crop protection. With this platform, it is also possible to define where and when to apply pesticides.

“Providing prior and analytical data and information for important decision-making in crop protection is a breakthrough in the sector. Arc farm intelligence represents an advance, allowing for faster, easier and smarter advice and insights on crop protection. In this way, the producer can act with more sustainable agriculture in the field, adding value and strengthening relationships,” Marketing Director Daniela Tavares highlighted.

The platform offers features such as customized alerts through the mobile application to indicate when action is needed in the field and facilitating communication with FMC agronomists. It also delivers high-quality data and graphics, graphs, and heat maps.

The Arc farm intelligence platform was developed with open APIs and can be easily inserted into the farmer's existing digital ecosystem. The Precision Agriculture Market Development Manager for Latin America, Piero Castro, explained that the first offering of the Arc farm intelligence platform uses aggregated historical data, entomological models, precise location climate data, and pest mapping at regional and in real-time to increase farmer confidence when making insect management decisions.

This tool can predict insect pressure a week in advance, with over 90% reliability for key insects in selected crops based on advanced tillage consulting and machine learning. Feedback has been surprisingly positive in Brazil and Greece, where the platform has been used for cotton farming, and they look forward to bringing Arc farm intelligence to other countries and other crops.

“The platform is in the pilot phase in Brazil, being used in more than 1.3 million hectares, in soybean, corn and cotton crops, in the states of Bahia, Mato Grosso and the Rio Grande do Sul. In these areas, the platform uses and takes into account various data, from climate information, pressure, and the number of insects, to provide reliable information, whether for each property or regionally, on the occurrence, fluctuation, behavior, and migration of pests,” Piero highlighted.

Pedro Ferzola, Marketing Manager at FMC, said that the platform helps in the efficiency of pesticide application in crops. This is possible because the tool, “captures population variations of target pests within the crop. With Arc, we have changed the way we use agrochemicals, sometimes anticipating spraying and changing places where the product is applied.”

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)