Ecoation Develops Groundbreaking Technology for Providing Real-Time IPM Risk Projections

In collaboration with epidemiology researchers, Ecoation Inc. developed a new technology that help greenhouse growers fight Corona and Tomato Brown Rugose Virus.

Ecoation Inc. has filed a patent on a ground-breaking new technology that enables the company to provide real-time IPM risk projections and predict biocontrol agents’ distribution in greenhouses. In collaboration with epidemiologists at the University of British Columbia who conduct research on COVID-19, the Ecoation Data Science and AI team, developed a risk projection model that utilizes epidemiological concepts to provide a full coverage map of pest and disease risks in the greenhouse on a daily basis. The risk model complements the human scouting, fills in the gaps and provides growers the ability to map IPM issues in the entire greenhouse more frequently than human scouting routine. It also projects biological control agents’ population dynamic and provides actionable intelligence to growers so they can conduct more targeted treatments. Daily, customers receive a summary report with the main IPM issues, rows to check, images of plants to pay attention to and an updated version of their maps.

 

 

As the Winner of the Greentech Innovation Award in 2018, Ecoation has become known for its scouting platforms. The company since then has expanded its offerings. Ecoation’s flagship product, OKO now provides crop work quality assessment, yield management, climate anomaly detection, digital crop registration, as well as closed-loop IPM. Users receive a dynamic daily report with details of their operation status. Through its world-first “Virtual Walk” feature, the company enables growers, managers and consultants to have an immersive experience and interaction with the crops from anywhere in the world. On May 1st, Ecoation introduced its latest feature, the “Helping Guide”, a two-way communication portal for consultants and managers so they can directly orchestrate and guide the activities in the greenhouse and provide their services remotely. With travel restrictions, this platform allows knowledge transfer and service continuity. Ecoation is now recruiting crop consultants globally to join Ecoation expert panel and offer their services via this new platform. 

The company is now pleased to announce the “Live Alerts” feature that operates based on the novel technology that was jointly developed by COVID researchers and Ecoation data scientists. While the operator drives down the row with the geo-aware OKO scouting machine, the algorithm provides the scout with an on-location real time alert that includes the risk level for pests or diseases in his or her immediate vicinity. On May 1st, Ecoation also released the risk projection algorithm for ToBRFV. The live alerts enhance the performance of the human scouts in the greenhouse by drawing their attention to potential emerging problems. Back in the growers’ office or anywhere in the world where you can connect to the internet, the bird’s eye view of the interactive map of pests, diseases, and beneficials can provide a projection of where hotspots may be developing. The greenhouse management portal allows the growers, managers and consultants to react to this intelligence and assign location specific tasks that will be automatically communicated with the crew on the ground via their OKO machines.  

The OKO machine is commercially available right now and has been in operation in several greenhouses in Canada, US and Europe since September 2019. The Ecoation team managed to successfully deploy and install OKO machines in two customer sites despite the COVID-19 restrictions. For more information, please contact Ecoation Sales Director, Albert Pinto (Albert@ecoation.com).