By Andi Anderson
The expansion of the pathogen detection network by Agtrinsic, in collaboration with GROWMARK, is set to cover all of Illinois and Iowa for the upcoming 2024 growing season. The network utilizes Scanit Technologies' SporeCams for real-time monitoring of pathogens in crops.
In the previous 2023 season, Agtrinsic deployed a two-hundred-sensor network covering a significant portion of the bottom two-thirds of Illinois. The success of this deployment prompted the decision to expand for the 2024 season, creating a contiguous disease monitoring network across Illinois and Iowa, as well as parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
Agtrinsic's broad-scale corn and soybean disease model, spanning 280 million acres, has shown promising results in earlier phases of expansion. The technology's reliability and effectiveness at a larger scale, equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Portugal combined, led to the decision to further expand.
The partnership with Scanit Technologies aims to revolutionize disease monitoring in agriculture, providing transformative solutions for agronomists and farmers. By leveraging pathogen detection and monitoring on such a massive scale, the goal is to prevent and mitigate diseases before they become detrimental to crops, leading to healthier crops, increased yields, and improved profitability.
GROWMARK emphasizes the importance of considering every variable in the equation to find new solutions for disease management, particularly addressing airborne pathogens like tar spot and white mold in soybeans that incur significant costs to the industry annually.
The collaboration prioritizes a new approach to utilizing data through data connectivity, analytics, and AI-based tools. This integrated approach is expected to offer a comprehensive perspective on management decisions, contributing to higher returns on investment for farmers.
In addition to deploying and maintaining SporeCams for pathogen detection, Agtrinsic plans to integrate Spornado genetic testing in the 2024 cropping season. This additional genetic data aims to strengthen the multistate Sporecam pathogen detection grid, enhancing the level of agronomic data available to the industry.
Access to the Illinois and Iowa pathogen detection network and disease model for 2024 will be available through Agtrinsic or through FS member cooperatives as part of the MyFS Agronomy communications, marketing, and scouting platform.
GROWMARK, as an agricultural cooperative, serves nearly 400,000 customers across North America, providing a range of products and services including agronomy, energy, facility engineering, construction, logistics, grain marketing, and risk management.
Agtrinsic, wholly owned and operated by Evergreen FS, Inc., is based in Bloomington, Illinois. It integrates agronomics, AI technology, and data science to enable farmers and sales professionals to enhance in-season crop management decisions and maximize profitability.
Scanit Technologies, based in Fremont, California, specializes in proprietary pathogen detection platforms that capture, inspect, classify, and alert growers about the presence of harmful airborne pathogen spores. The technology allows growers to take preventative actions, optimize pest management practices, minimize yield losses, and have efficacy proof of disease control measures.
Photo Credit: gettyimages-eugenesergeev
Categories: Illinois, Crops