USA - New crop pathogen monitoring network expands to cover all of Illinois and Iowa

Agtrinsic, which is owned by Evergreen FS, Inc., in partnership with GROWMARK, will be expanding their pathogen detection network to cover all of Illinois and Iowa for the 2024 growing season.

During the 2023 season, Agtrinsic deployed a two-hundred-sensor, real-time pathogen detection network using Scanit Technologies' SporeCams. The network covered most of the bottom two-thirds of Illinois and worked inside their expansive 280-million-acre Agtrinsic broad-scale corn and soybean disease model.

Prior to the 2023 growing season, Agtrinsic grew the network from twenty million acres to forty million acres in 2022 with great results. "Our early testing proved that the technology and data are reliable and can effectively be deployed at a larger scale, and by larger scale, we're talking an area roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Portugal combined," said Agtrinsic product manager, Scott Plato.

With the data they collected, Agtrinsic decided near the end of the 2023 season to expand in 2024 and create a contiguous disease monitoring network from border to border in Illinois and Iowa and parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

"Scanit is excited to partner with Agtrinsic and GROWMARK in deploying pathogen detection and monitoring at such a tremendous scale," said Pete Manautou, founder & CEO at Scanit Technologies. "Disease monitoring at this magnitude represents a transformative shift in how agronomists and farmers are able to prevent and mitigate disease before is too late; leading to healthier crops, increased yields, and improving the bottom line."

"Airborne pathogens like tar spot and white mold in soybeans continue to cost the industry billions every year but the management strategies have evolved very little over time," said GROWMARK director of FS agronomy Brendan Bachman. "It's imperative that we consider every variable in the equation to find new solutions that allow for better management and higher ROI on the farm."

The priority of the partnership is to offer a new approach to utilizing data through data connectivity, analytics, and AI-based tools that bring the bigger picture of management decisions into focus.

In addition to using Sporecams that will be deployed and maintained by Scanit, Agtrinsic will integrate Spornado genetic testing in the 2024 cropping season. This data will help strengthen the Agtrinsic multistate Sporecam pathogen detection grid, assisting in their efforts to bring a new level of agronomic data to the industry.

For 2024, access to the Illinois and Iowa pathogen detection network and disease model will be available through Agtrinsic or through FS member cooperative as part of their MyFS Agronomy communications, marketing, and scouting platform.

About Agtrinsic

Agtrinsic is wholly owned and operated by Evergreen FS, Inc., and based in Bloomington, Illinois. Agtrinsic was created using strong agronomics, AI technology, and data science that allows farmers and sales professionals the ability to improve in-season crop management decisions and maximize profitability. 

About Scanit

Scanit Technologies is based in Fremont, California. Scanit's proprietary pathogen detection platform captures, inspects, classifies, and alerts growers of the presence of harmful airborne pathogen spores. The result is growers can take preventative actions, optimize pest management practices, minimize yield losses, and have efficacy proof that their actions are working to control disease.