After the Conference… The Solania platform
Based on the presentation by Mr. Pedro Carrillo, during the Tomato News Conference held in Avignon, France, 16-17 May 2019
A new tool for crop management based on a predictive system
"In the near future of tomato variety breeding, we will be putting together two different genes: a gene from an artificial intelligence company, which is Ec2ce, and a gene from Tepro, which is a consulting company for agriculture. Both companies are based in Spain, and we have put together our efforts and knowledge in creating Solania.
Solania is a solution that we propose to the decision-makers of the processing tomato sector in order to have a reliable tool to make better decisions. Better decisions related to "What to do with the production in the industry?", "What to do with pest control", and "What to do with the fertigation of processing tomato?", in order to have better results and more profitability.
How will we do that? We have created this platform based on "big data" and artificial intelligence, as well as the data and knowledge coming from the sector, and we provide four solutions:
- Solutions to predict productivity and Brix
- Solutions to predict the market production, i.e. regional production
- Market intelligence and market insights
Those solutions are already in the pipeline, and are ready for this season.
- Next season (2020) with the same Solania platform, we will introduce predictive pest control tools and optimum fertigation tools.
To briefly talk about the productivity and Brix, we can predict almost 70 to 80 days in advance what is going to be the productivity and Brix per plot or per hectare. We can predict according to different geographical regions and time periods. Most importantly, for the following one or two weeks, we can determine which plots have reached their best productivity level and are in the optimum situation to be harvested, to maximize profitability for the industry [...].
In terms of marketing insights, we can provide the production figures or, in tonnes per hectare, average tonnes per hectare for four different regions (California, Italy, Portugal and Spain), so producers and industry operators located in those regions can compare their productivity with sectorial productivity. That is going to happen in the next few weeks or months: so this is predictive information in advance.
The platform works with access to data stored in the cloud, and it is perfectly secure, with personalized codes. Each farm can be located on the platform, and you can add and include data relating to your farm into the cloud. It is also a platform for integrated data management, and predictions are displayed geographically, indicating which fields are going to have maximum productivity and optimum Brix in the coming weeks.
And then, in addition to the main regions already covered in our offer, we are in the process of extending the predictive marker results to other regions, and for particular countries, we are also making predictions for those geographical areas.
On top of that, we try to include market information in the platform, so operators can use it as a unique tool including everything related to the markets and everything that happens on the farms related to the industry. It is very easy to use, mainly requiring that users enter the location of the farm, the planting dates and the varieties. The model has already been trained with more than 10 years of data and experience, and is able to make predictions. If on top of that, specific farm data is introduced (fertigation, pest-control management, etc.), the tool is going to be better fitted to each farm. More the adaptation is precise, more the information is going to make better predictions.
This is the result of big data and artificial intelligence technology, and it is the result of the experience and hard work of Ec2ce and Tepro."
Some complementary data
Full text of the presentation available at:
For more information:
This article refers to the Tomato News Conference held in Avignon (Fr) on 16 and 17 May 2019, during which the "2019 Processed Tomato Yearbook" was distributed to attendees. The 2019 Processed Tomato Yearbook can be purchased from this website (go to GET LISTED) or by sending the: order form.
Source: Solania
