Experience and expertise are for sure two important elements in agriculture. Farmers need to know their fields, in order to react properly to the needs of cultivations and soil. Nevertheless, changing climate situation and more demanding market requirements make optimized results crucial to be successful on the market.
In this context, precision agriculture helps not only keep an eye on each aspect of a farm's management and potential outcomes, but also improve the agronomic impact of famers on their cultivation, better identifying each crucial requirement.
This was clear to Farid Edrisian, CEO & Co-Founder of Pixofarm, when he decided to start the journey. While leading one of his projects as Innovation Manager, Farid got in touch with the world of precision agriculture and got stunned by the potentials. Therefore, together with his colleagues Dr. Hamed Bastani and Dr. Stefan Perkmann Berger, they decided to develop a solution and contribute to the digitalization and optimization of this industry.
Farid tells us: "In particular, we got to know about the importance of yield monitoring in the fruit production value chain. We realized that currently, this process is being done mostly manually and the alternative solutions are either not accurate enough or very expensive. Based on our research and
many discussions, our mission became very clear for us: we wanted to empower fruit growers worldwide to optimize their harvest, use resources efficiently and get the most out of their orchards."
The development of the Pixofarm application ran quite fast. The company was founded in 2019 in Austria and today it already has clients in European countries like Italy, Austria, Germany, UK, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Poland and it is now focusing on expanding in Southern Hemisphere's countries.
"Being in touch with many growers and organizations in this sector helped us a lot," says Farid. "They provide us with valuable insights based on their experience and we can adapt the product to meet theirs needs. It is great to see that there are many innovators among the growers, and we hope to meet many more on our path".
Based on our research and many discussions, our mission became very clear for us: we wanted to empower fruit growers worldwide to optimize their harvest, use resources efficiently and get the most out of their orchards. Farid Edrisian Tweet
As of today, Pixofarm can be used on a long list of apple varieties, citrus and many other fruit types. More fruits will be added to the portfolio in the near future. There are many already existing solutions for extensive agriculture and farming, but not that much for horticulture. This is the gap Pixofarm tries to fill. Thus, over the last years, Pixofarm has also won several awards and prizes. Like last year's "Born Global Champion 2022", the Advantage Austria for its excellent performance in global expansion.
The main idea behind the system is digitalizing the manual process of fruit measurement and fruit counting and providing accurate yield estimations. Growers use their smartphones and our mobile application to take pictures of a sample of fruits and trees. Thanks to the artificial intelligence technology and image processing, fruit growers get in real-time reliable information on the current average diameter, daily growth rate, the predicted diameter, size class distribution as well as total yield estimation. Next to the pre-harvest solutions, Pixofarm introduced its first Post harvest solution: Bin Scan in 2022. However, this is just a start. The next release of an even bigger Post Harvest Solution is in the making and will be released later this year.
"We hope to get many clients on board this season, as we are keen on bringing more value to growers and support the way they take their decisions," states Farid. "We know that the data we provide can create huge values for both growers and organizations. Moreover, we support the growers to be more sustainable by helping them use their resources more efficiently!."