Danish agtech startup PerPlant's AI crop sensor can now be ordered factory-fitted on new Valtra tractors, through a partnership with Valtra Unlimited, the customisation studio of the AGCO-owned tractor brand, AgFunderNews reported. It will be offered on Valtra's A105 and A115, G, N, T, Q and S Series models in selected European markets, and elsewhere on request, with sales starting this month alongside Valtra's new sixth-generation T Series.
The sensor is a single AI unit with two cameras mounted on the tractor roof. As the tractor drives, it scans the crop and turns what it sees into maps and real-time actions, such as spot spraying weeds and variable-rate application of fertiliser, fungicide and growth regulator, by day or night. It also tracks biomass, weeds and risk zones through the season and uploads the data to farm management systems. It works with ISOBUS sprayers, spreaders and seeders.
PerPlant says farmers using the system have cut input use by 40% to 87%, depending on the implement, at an average operating cost of about €4 ($4.4) per hectare on a 200-hectare farm. Chief executive and cofounder Rasmus Emil Hansen said many farmers would rather add crop intelligence to the equipment they have: "They're not going to go out and buy the newest sprayer just to have it, because it's quite a big investment for them."
Founded in Copenhagen in 2022 by Hansen and Sumod Nandanwar, the company has dealers in more than 10 European countries and in Chile and Argentina, and its sensors have mapped more than 250,000 hectares in 12 countries. Its link with Valtra began in Finland's BioBoosters accelerator. It has also partnered with US firm Ag Leader on spot spraying and variable-rate integration.
Hansen says the long-term value may lie less in spraying than in the centimetre-level field data the sensors collect every time a tractor drives. PerPlant is building Nexus, a product that will let agronomists and input companies use that data to build their own AI tools; it has been validated with the largest agricultural cooperative in the Netherlands and is due in production early next year. The company recently raised €1 million ($1.2 million) and is raising €5 million ($5.8 million). The story was reported by Jennifer Marston.
Photo: Antti Leppänen / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: AgFunderNews
Comments
(0)