The researchers and developers behind the machine-learning driven crop insights tool HarvestEye have been taking advantage of the Mediterranean climate’s earlier potato harvesting season, working with growers on the island of Mallorca to conduct field trials of current and future iterations of the technology.
HarvestEye is patented technology that fits to existing harvesting or grading equipment, providing timely insights on root crops as they’re lifted. It provides unprecedented levels of detail to understand the precise size profile of a crop so it can be marketed more profitably, and crop variability can be mapped across precise field locations, providing targeted agronomic performance data.
In Mallorca, the HarvestEye team tested existing software and hardware, as well as a new, unreleased, iteration of the product, following four weeks of trials and collaboration throughout the season.
The machine-learning team leader at HarvestEye, Dr Mercedes Torres Torres, said the company had established amazing partnerships with potato growers and exporters in Mallorca.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to refine our existing technology ahead of the UK harvesting season, while also being the perfect test bed to trial a new version of our cutting-edge technology – of which findings will be instrumental to the product,” she added.
The HarvestEye team worked with local growers to trial the technology, processing more than 200t of potatoes from six harvested fields.
The director at potato grower Mateu Exports, Pedro Mateu, said he had formed an incredibly mutually beneficial relationship with the team at HarvestEye.
“The company understands our needs as growers,” he added, “and in turn the system has enabled us to better understand our crop performance and make accurate data-informed decisions.”
HarvestEye’s managinng director, Vidyanath Gururajan, said it is incredibly important that the company continued to engage with growers of varying scale and requirements of harvest insights to maximise their yields.
“An open dialogue with growers and exporters through trials such as we have done in Mallorca is vital to build supply chain confidence that HarvestEye will inform long-term sustainable growth that is so desperately needed at a time where climate concerns grow,” he added.
