ICL develops diagnostics tool to help farmers maximise yield

ICL (NYSE: ICL) (TASE: ICL), a leading global specialty minerals company, announced the launch of ICLeaf, a revolutionary diagnostics tool, which will provide farmers with a personal prescription for maximizing yield. The tool measures 10 different elements in a leaf sample and then delivers accurate, real-time feedback and a recommendation regarding nutrient use.

The process begins with the collection of leaves from the targeted crop, which are then analyzed using unique technology. Results are rapidly available – within up to three days after initial sampling – versus several weeks using traditional methods, and the new tool is also more sustainable than traditional testing. It will allow farmers to make quick and data-driven decisions, based on the measurements, and enable them to take multiple samples each year and make immediate, in-season improvements.

ICLeaf is complementary to Crop Advisor, an optimized data-based crop nutrition plan, which provides customized fertilizer recommendations, based on type of crop, location and environmental conditions. This customer-focused solution is supported by professional agronomists, who offer personal guidance throughout the process.

″As a company focused on creating impactful solutions for humanity’s sustainability challenges in the global food, agriculture and industrial markets, we are proud to introduce our new and advanced Israeli technology, which will help farmers gain greater visibility into their fields and maximize yields,″ said Elad Aharonson, president of Growing Solutions for ICL. ″This unique specialty service will assist farmers in planning for optimum nutrient management, by timely identifying deficiencies and enabling them to use the right products at the right time to improve yields and increase sales.″

ICLeaf is currently available for grape, cotton, banana, tomato and pomegranate crops in India, with other crops being added. The revolutionary diagnostics tool was created at the Center for Fertilization and Plant Nutrition (CFPN), which was founded through a partnership between ICL and the Volcani Institute (Agricultural Research Organization ARO). The Volcani Institute is the research arm of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and leads in its field, with among the widest range of technologies and developments in advanced agriculture.

The digital technology suite – including the ICLeaf and Crop Advisor solutions, among others – was developed by Agmatix, an ICL owned digital ag startup, which developed the world’s first single engine designed to drive the agronomic innovation cycle from research and experimental data into meaningful and actionable insights. The Agmatix platform can read and interpret thousands of the different data points commonly used across the agricultural industry to help scientists, agronomists and farmers make actionable decisions.