In 2010, Krishna Kumar launched the project CropIn Technologies. Initially, it was a platform for uniting small landowners and buyers of their products. India’s agricultural sector is very large, but fragmented and poorly documented.
Initially, the system CropIn worked in the mode of data collection from farmers. Yield, pests, symptoms of their appearance, how different varieties looks like at a lack of water, were preserved and compared. By 2016, the system was used to monitor 2 million hectares and stored data on the cultivation of more than 250 crops.
The accumulation of a large amount of data allowed system to proceed to the next stage - the construction of prognostic models for typical problems existing in this region. Another area that has interested both sellers and buyers is the yield forecast. Now, three months before the harvest, the landowner can much more accurately predict the expected return from his field. It became easier to negotiate with the dealers. In case problems are discovered, it is possible to use an agronomist much earlier to accurately determine the causes of problems in the place indicated by the system.
CropIn plans to more actively implement field monitoring using satellites, UAVs, sensors and various types of product labeling. The latter measure should simplify tracking the movement of goods from the field to the table. A blockchain can be used to store data about the goods being shipped; this was discussed in more detail in this article.
More and more large companies are betting on the development of digital agriculture. In 2013, the notorious Monsanto paid about 1 billion dollars for the meteorological business of Climate Corp. Bayer decided to develop its own project - Xarvio. Yara is developing a similar solution Atfarm. This is necessary in order to better understand and manage the supply chains for agricultural products at all stages from manufacturer to consumer.
