ForeSite, a corn staging and tar spot modelling app, is taking the guesswork out of anticipating field-level disease pressure.
“This app is meant to lead to a more productive boots-on-the-ground approach, like we want every time an agronomist and a grower to interact for a meaningful outcome to occur,” said Nikolas Marsiglio, UKKO Agro account manager at the London Farm Show.
Why it matters: ForeSite addresses the agronomist shortage and provides targeted efficiency for scouting and spraying acres, reducing costs and potentially increasing yields.
ForeSite is an Ontario-specific adaptive and integrated modelling system for managing corn and tar spot. It provides disease and aggregated insights, in-field weather, growth stage modelling and engagement reports, allowing agronomists and producers to hone field management, reducing costs and labour.
UKKO Agro collaborated with southwestern Ontario growers, partnering with Metos weather stations for localized weather data and academic and government data over three years before field-testing and integrating on-the-ground validation to finesse the modelling.
“It’s not a static model; we incorporate user feedback,” said Marsiglio. “A user would go in, look at the field they’re observing, click on this field, and then a little observed growth stage icon will appear, where they validate their input.”
ForeSite’s science-based machine learning utilizes the latitude and longitude referenced data points garnered from weather stations or user validation to increase regional accuracy and adjust future stages appropriately.
For example, the disease page provides a combination of weather and staging information to inform and colour-code potential disease pressure throughout the season, and the heat map provides precipitation totals over seven days within a 10-millimetre threshold.
Push notifications alert growers when disease pressure is trending upwards and alerts when it hits high and, because historical data validates the model, confidently provide preventative fungicide applications three to five days in advance.
“We know that fungicides, for the most part, are going to be preventative rather than curative,” he said. “So, getting that ahead of time helps prevent the spread.”
Additionally, Marsiglio said it mitigates agronomist labour shortages by providing a targeted approach that improves time efficiency and lowers fuel and vehicle costs.
“(Agronomists can) use this as a logistics and planning tool to know, where do I scout, where do I spray, which growers do I need to communicate with,” he explained.
Although well established in Western Canada, Avi Bhargava, UKKO Agro co-founder and CEO, said entering new markets has challenges, including proving the app’s value and engaging strategic partners.
“Making someone believe it will work for you, the challenge of communicating that – that’s the first challenge,” Bhargava explained. The biggest competition is overcoming retailer and agronomy companies’ hesitancy to invest in the software despite it offsetting insufficient employee retention that limits potential business growth.
“Can you sell this directly to farmers today? Yes. We focus on ag retail and crop consulting because we solve a different problem for them, along with solving a problem for farmers,” he explained. “When that problem is solved for crop consultants and retailers, farmers also benefit. So, it’s connecting the value chain. It takes time, but when it works, it works nicely.”
The system works best with weather stations monitoring the farm operation. However, grid-based weather reading is the default when weather stations aren’t available.
Bhargava said it isn’t as accurate as specific data points, especially if you live in a microclimate, but it still allows a grower to extrapolate information.
“It’s very adaptive,” he said. “We ran into these problems (during development) and had to evolve every single time. We take feedback extremely seriously.”
UKKO strategically partnered with Metos weather stations for the Ontario-specific platform’s early development, but the app can work with a grower or agronomist’s existing weather station.
David Simard, Metos inside sales and marketing manager and Manitoba East account manager said there are different levels of weather stations available, from a basic “rain bucket” with a soil probe to a complete station able to measure precipitation, air temperature and humidity, wind speed, wind direction, leaf wetness, and soil temperature and soil moisture, solar and solar radiation with a probe.
“That one’s going to cover your farm. Not one station will cover your farm, but that data should cover all the information you need for most crops,” he added. “To effectively measure the data properly, you need a network of weather stations measuring data strategically throughout your operation.”
Simard said an Eastern Canada grower invested approximately $50,000 in three top-of-the-line weather stations supplemented by six smaller-scale options for their operation. The investment could start as low as $800 for a “rain bucket” style and be crafted to fit an individual’s budget.
He explained that the ROI could be two to three years if the data influenced significant decisions limiting where, when, or how much inputs were applied to a field, not to mention the resulting yield increases. The Metos field-tested their systems for Canadian winters for those who leave them out year-round and, at worst, you’ll need to change the solar battery every six or seven years, said Simard.
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