Precision Fruit Growing at Fructura Expo 2024
As a fruit grower, you face challenges such as climate change, rising costs, and stricter environmental regulations. Precision fruit growing offers an innovative solution to work more sustainable and efficiently.
By using drones, sensors, and data analysis, you can map the exact needs of your crops.
This allows you to determine the precise amounts of water, fertilizers and crop protection each tree requires.
The result? Increased yields and a reduced ecological footprint.
Collaboration
pcfruit, VITO, and Munckhof are combining their expertise to enhance and apply precision fruit growing in practice. These new technologies assist with tasks such as flower counting, harvest forecasting, workforce planning, fertilization and much more.
Together we aim to make the sector more sustainable, efficient and economically robust, ensuring your business is prepared for the future.
Visit us at Fructura Expo 24
Collaborations within projects such as ADaM and PreciLa provide fruit growers with the latest solutions for future-proof and profitable fruit cultivation. Do you want to learn how precision fruit growing can strengthen your business? Visit the boots of VITO (A23-24), pcfruit (A25) and Munckhof (A34) at Fructura Expo, on December 4th and 5th!
Our experts will be there to offer advice, share information about the latest technologies, and provide practical tips to make your fruit cultivation smarter and more sustainable.
Combining expertises
VITO Remote Sensing's expertise in sensor technology and data processing
With our expertise in sensor technology and data processing, we develop innovative applications where drones play a central role. These drones, equipped with advanced sensors and high-resolution cameras, collect precise data on crops, such as flower and fruit development. By integrating this data with satellite imagery, processing it through the MAPEO platform and analyzing it with intelligent algorithms, we provide valuable insights to help growers optimize their harvest management and yield forecasts.
VITO Remote Sensing's technology is revolutionizing automation and precision in fruit growing, leadin to less labor-intensive processes and more sustainable, data-driven cultivation methods.
In addition, at Fructura Expo 2024, VITO, together with pcfruit, is introducing a series of actions aimed at achieving 'water gains' in fruit cultivation. These measures contribute to a climate-resilient water supply for fruit farming, including the use of soil moisture sensors, controlled drainage and weirs, trenches and ridges to enhance water infiltration. All of these methods have been studied and positively evaluated as part of the Blue Deal Vlaanderen WaterProof project. Furthermore, the 'Waterboerometer' - an online tool that provided fruit growers with a convenient overview of the opportunities and risks related to water management on their farms - is being unveiled for the first time.
pcfruit: turning data into precision work in the orchard
We analyze processed drone images and combine them with field data, working closely with growers. Using one or more models, we determine the most suitable tree parameter to distinguish between trees that require treatment and those that do not. Applying the threshold value for the selected parameter generates a digital task map. This task map is then imported into a GPS-guided precision machine, carefully calibrated to switch between treated and untreated trees.
Munckhof develops smart technology to improve grower profitability
We create precision solutions to help fruit growers work more efficiently. With our ISOBUS root cutter and growth vigor maps, tree roots can be pruned automatically for more uniform growth and reduced biennial bearing.
Our technology can also measure the number of flower clusters. Using the VariMAS orchard sprayer, thinning or fruit-setting agents can be applied precisely at the tree level. Additionally, we offer solutions for location-specific pest control, such as tackling the pear bud weevil.
The result is a uniform orchard with fruit of consistent quality, color, size, and yield, all while reducing hand thinning and crop protection product use.
Our Plus-O-Trak can now also record harvest performance, including count, size, and color, providing growers with valuable insights into picking efficiency and crop value.
