Brazilian farm machinery company Jacto has partnered with agtech firm DeepAgro to factory-install DeepAgro's selective-application artificial intelligence on its entire line of selective sprayers, widening the technology's reach among Brazilian farmers.

DeepAgro's SprAI system combines cameras with a processing unit mounted on the sprayer boom. In real time the AI analyses the shape, colour and context of each weed to decide whether it needs herbicide, working on the machine itself without an internet connection. Machines will be supported through Jacto's Master Dealer network.

The system has been tested in Brazil by Amaggi, one of the country's largest agribusinesses: between February and June it covered 13,000 hectares of cotton and saved an estimated 26,000 litres of glufosinate. DeepAgro, operating in Brazil for less than two years, raised a $3 million pre-Series A round led by Aqua Capital in July, and chief executive Juan Manuel Baruffaldi is now talking to US investors ahead of a Series A round.

Photo: Dan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Source: AgroPages