David Doll0 commentsFebruary 25, 2021Technology

Technology Corner: Q&A with Semios

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry is part of an ongoing series to highlight a new technology related to almond and tree nut production. The question/answer format is set to focus more on the technical aspects and application of the technology. I would like to thank James Watson from Semios who took the time to answer my questions regarding their irrigation monitoring platform 1. Semios is a platform that links in a variety of sensors using IoT and on-farm networks. These sensors provide data for on-farm decision support. They include water monitoring tools, pest management tools for insects, and weather sensors. Would you be able to briefly describe the mission of Semios and how it works to integrate these various sensors? Semios subscribes to the philosophy that granular, in-canopy climate is the fundamental element of key crop decisions made by growers whether it’s the development of insect and disease pressure or water requirements of the plant. For this reason, the Semios solution always incorporates methods for monitoring climatic conditions at a granular level with the goal to optimize all resource inputs for the best possible crop result. Semios has developed a configurable platform approach in response to growers telling us how they want their agtech experience simplified. They don’t want to be buried in data or have to log into many different systems to get the information they need to make a decision. By bringing these important elements together into one streamlined system, Semios gives growers a holistic view of the information that informs their key crop management decisions. 2. Please describe the basic hardware and sensor systems utilized within the platform. The basic Semios offering includes at least one out-of-block weather station and, depending on acreage, one to many in-block weather stations tracking the core climatic conditions of the orchard. These stations

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David Doll0 commentsJanuary 31, 2021Technology

Technology Corner: Q&A w/ Phytech

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry is part of an ongoing series to highlight a new technology related to almond and tree nut production. The question/answer format is set to focus more on the technical aspects and application of the technology. I would like to thank Mark Sherfy from Phytech who took the time to answer my questions regarding their irrigation monitoring platform. Phytech is an irrigation technology that monitors the tree’s water stress. Please describe the basic hardware system and software analysis that is behind Phytech’s irrigation management technology. Phytech has several different sensors in the field and each sensor has an important role to play in the overall puzzle. We are about understanding exactly what the tree needs and what it is feeling. The ‘bread and butter’ of our organization is our dendrometers, but we also have several other sensors such as water pressure, soil moisture probes, fruit sensors, frost sensors and loggers. By using all these sensors, we can give the grower daily irrigation recommendations and we display an intuitive color scheme that helps the grower understand the current plant status of the orchard. On top of this, we have just launched an analytical section on our website that displays all the season’s data in one area. This displays such things a heat maps, bar and line graphs over different periods of time. Varieties, blocks, and ranches can also be compared to see where adjustments need to be made. It is a tool that gives growers instant recommendations daily, but it’s also an analytical tool that can change the grower’s overall strategy. What crops have been successful in utilizing Phytech’s products? Quite a long list of crops. We have been extremely successful in the almond industry as we have found out that the ETc is not only different per orchard,

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David Doll0 commentsNovember 15, 2020Technology

Technology Corner: Questions to Ask Ag Tech Companies before Committing

Over the past 12 years, I have worked with several agricultural technology companies who have been interested in working within tree nuts. Companies have focused on a variety of issues, including water, bees, and aerial imagery. Some ideas have been great and have gone on to develop into successful companies. Others have failed to execute the idea or have overestimated the need within the industry. As I have shifted my role into farm management, I was overwhelmed with ag tech options. In reviewing, I found myself asking several of the same questions, regardless of the company and subject matter. Some of them may seem obvious, but they are also questions that can be easily overlooked. They are provided below. Please note that some contain multiple questions which help explore the line of inquiry. How does the technology work and how does it vary from the current market options? What hardware needs to be bought to fully integrate the system? Can hardware components from other companies be utilized with the system? What is the deliverable of the technology? What variables are being measured or recorded? How are these measurements developed into a recommendation? Is there any crop-specific research available to support the analysis utilized by the technology? Where were these studies performed? How many studies have been conducted and by whom?Note: There are many measured variables that may not have relevance to the crop or farming operation. Determine your priorities before meeting. Also, many companies state they are utilizing “machine learning” for developing recommendations. Even so, the “machine” needs to be taught by someone. Making recommendations off averages will lead to problems, and at best, an “average orchard.” Who are the competitors? What does this platform/hardware provide that they do not? What are the unique features that this company is offering?Note:

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David Doll0 commentsAugust 6, 2020Technology

Technology Corner: Q&A w/Tule Technologies

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry is part of a series to highlight a new technology related to almond and tree nut production. The question/answer format is set to focus more on the technical aspects and application of the technology. In many articles, I discuss the importance of irrigation. With that in mind, I though I would reach out to a company that assists with irrigation scheduling based on site-specific data: Tule Technologies. Thanks to Valerie Bednarski for taking the time to answer my questions. Tule is an irrigation technology that determines site specific water use for a specific crop. How does this technology work? Tule measures the actual evapotranspiration (ET) of your orchard. We are able to do this using the Surface Renewal Method that was developed at the University of California at Davis (Paw U et al. 1995; Snyder et al. 1996; Shapland et al. 2012a and 2012b; Shapland et al. 2014). ET is the process of evaporation from plant and soil surfaces and from within plant tissues (i.e., water movement through stomata). In most modern agricultural systems, ET is the dominant process of water loss from a field. (Editor’s note: more info on ET here) What equipment is installed, and resources are used to determine water use? The Tule Sensor is installed in the orchard and is positioned above the canopy. The sensor is able to measure the amount of evapotranspiration from the orchard based on air movement.  As the wind moves over your orchard, it picks up the water that transpires from the trees and carries it to our sensor. This is how we are able to measure the crop water use over a broad area. An installed pressure switch is fitted to the irrigation system. This provides a direct measurement of irrigation durations. Using site specific irrigation specifications,

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David Doll0 commentsJune 28, 2020Insects, Technology

Technology Corner: Spear-Lep w/Vestaron

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry is the first in a new and (hopefully) ongoing series to highlight new technology related to almond and tree nut production. The question/answer format is set to focus more on the technical aspects and application of the technology. Since we are approaching hull-split, I thought a reasonable place to start would be with Vestaron, a company which recently released a new class of insecticides.Thanks to Noel Cornejo for taking the time to answer my questions. Question (Q): Spear-Lep is a new group of insecticides that has been shown to be effective on lepidopteran pests, such as peach twig borer, codling moth, and navel orangeworm. What is the active ingredient and how does this product work? Answer (A): The active ingredient is an insecticidal peptide called GS-omega/kappa-Hxtx-Hv1a. It was carefully optimized to target the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the insect nervous system, but at a receptor site distinct from Spinosad and neonicotinoids. The end result is paralysis of the lepidopteran larvae that ingest it. Q. Is this product directly toxic to insect pests? Or does it have to be consumed? How is the activity on developing larvae (may have been answered above)? A. For lepidopteran pests Spear works through ingestion. Extensive studies confirm activity against neonates as well as later instars of all species tested to date. At high v/v concentrations, Spear works though topical contact against smaller, soft-bodied pests such as mites, thrips and whiteflies. Q. How is this product different from what is currently on the market and is there any efficacy data comparisons among the various products on the market?  A. This novel class of insecticidal peptide is the first of its kind. Identified in nature, and then optimized painstakingly in the lab, Vestaron’s peptide insecticides are designed to target neuromuscular receptors proven through

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David Doll3 CommentsMay 30, 2017General, Technology

Small Drones and Monitoring Orchards: Project Update and Field Day

Aerial imaging can provide real-time information to growers regarding water usage and crop health. Within agriculture, these tools provide a valuable service for identifying problematic areas within fields, thereby increasing efficiencies for both small and large scale producers. Currently, most aerial imaging is conducted by flights with mid-elevation aircraft or satellites. These flights and corresponding images are usually conducted by a service company and provided on a weekly or monthly basis. Autonomous or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) may provide a format in which more regular flight data can be obtained. Most discussions within agricultural settings have been focused around large fixed wing drones. However, smaller, less sophisticated and less autonomous UAVs could provide a useful platform for California farmers. These smaller UAVs would be less expensive to construct, may require less regulatory permitting, and provide a mobile platform that can be quickly deployed within a field setting. In these settings, small UAVs would have the ability to quickly monitor crops for water stress, nutrient management, and pest and disease epidemics. A major barrier for small UAVs is camera/imager selection and processing. Currently, most work within crop stress management has focused on the use of thermal cameras that operate in the far-infrared spectrum (Maes and Steppe, 2012). These cameras are expensive, which inhibits the adoption of UAV technology. More commonly used spectral wavelengths, such as visible and near-infrared wavelengths can be used for other vegetation indices need to be researched to determine if they provide comparable results as thermal imaging. These imagers and indices are attractive to the end-user due to the lower cost to implement. With these challenges in mind, a research project sponsored by the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resource Competitive Grants Program was awarded to determine the feasibility of using small UAVs for perennial crop water

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David Doll4 CommentsFebruary 6, 2013General, Horticulture, Technology

Meeting Time: Understanding Figures and Statistics

It is that time of the year where it seems like there is some type of meeting every week. In many of these meetings, data is presented to show the effectiveness of the products versus other products or a control. Statistics are often used to determine if there is a true difference between the treatments by taking into account the field variability within the data set. It may be asked, “What do you mean by true difference?” In this case, a true statistical difference is not due to random chance or variability within the plot, but rather due to the treatment applied.

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