Early adoption of Ceres Imaging’s agriculture data analytics proven successful, even in labor shortage and drought

Ceres Imaging, the data analytics company that builds precision agriculture solutions to reduce risk and improve sustainability outcomes, is announcing its recent expansion into Portugal and Spain and has exceeded year one customer acquisition goals by 50%. Using quantifiable metrics, Ceres drives actions that show value across the entire customer organization.

Working closely with growers and using AI, Ceres advises on a variety of agricultural issues including irrigation adjustment strategies which previously could only be assessed by viewing effects with the naked eye. This has enabled Ceres customers to mitigate or totally eliminate yield loss, improve crop quality and positively impact their bottom line.

″This innovative technology brought a new level of precision and insight to our farming practices. Through it we can monitor several parameters of our crop (almonds) with high accuracy and frequently. For instance, by detecting subtle variations in temperature, we can identify water stress, optimize irrigation, and even detect individual issues such as stressed tree rows, clogged lines and leaks,″ said Miguel Matos Chaves, Managing Director at MIGDALO. ″The early impact has been remarkable, empowering us to make data-driven decisions and achieve higher yields while conserving valuable resources.″

Given market current conditions with input costs, as well as drought across much of Iberia, Ceres can better help growers manage those inputs in season using industry leading thermal imagery and advanced data analytics. With the labor market being scarce, Ceres’ ability to quickly and accurately identify problems across thousands of hectares, allows for efficiently guiding these scarce labor forces to exact spots via its mobile app.

"Climate change is bringing even more variability to the Mediterranean climate, along with the reduction in average annual precipitation, especially in the south of Portugal, where the country's largest farms are concentrated. For this reason too, tools that help producers to monitor, not only the water content in the soil but also the water stress of crops, become decisive for sustainable precision irrigation,″ said Ricardo Braga PhD, Professor of Agronomy @ University of Lisbon. ″The data layers provided by Ceres Imaging, in particular the water stress index obtained from the thermal image, will become essential in this context, because not only do they provide data at the plant level, but they do so accurately for each one of thousands of plants in a plantation and at various dates in the cycle. I have already validated it on the ground and the leap in management they allow is really impressive."

Ceres is used by global farming enterprises to protect yield and improve sustainability outcomes, including water and nutrient use efficiency. With Ceres growers can:

• Identify issues impacting yield and calculate the ROI of capital improvements in ways that other companies can not.
  

• Report on key farm metrics at a plant, farm, or portfolio level—or create custom zones to match the way you work.

• Be notified of crop health issues 2-3 weeks before they are visible to the human eye—and before they impact yield.

• Benefit from the most accurate aerial imagery available for agriculture, including chlorophyll, color infrared, absolute and relative NDVI, thermal, and water stress data.

Ceres' holistic view combines high-resolution, multi-spectral imagery, IoT field sensors, and satellite-based analytics to forecast yield risk and help users take action within 48 hours of field capture.