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June 03, 2016

03/06/2016: Yield boosting agri-tech firm CropLogic to expand into US corn, wheat, soybean and cotton markets

With the global population expected to swell to 9.5 billion by 2050, crop growers across the globe are now obliged to come up with new and innovative ways to improve their efficiency and boost crop yields. As demand increases, farmers are becoming more and more reliant on technology to cut losses and boost output.

CropLogic: expanding into US crop markets.
One such example can be found in New Zealand based agri-tech company CropLogic. The 'precision agriculture' firm has just recently signed an exclusive agreement with the New Zealand Institute of Plant & Food Research to expand the marketing of its patented technology to corn, wheat, soybean and cotton farmers in the United States, according to an article recently published by Scoop.co.nz.

CropLogic is a unique system that uses advanced scientific plant growth models to forecast the future effects of today's input decisions on crop yield and quality. This "dynamic optimisation" process is familiar to industrial processes, such as automotive, aerospace and industrial control but is new to crop growers.

The technology, developed over 30 years out of Plant & Food Research, a New Zealand Crown Research Institute, and guided and shaped for international markets by IP investor Powerhouse Ventures, enables growers using the firm’s predictive modelling systems to pinpoint the best times to apply nutrients and to conserve precious water for maximum plant yields.

Under an earlier agreement, CropLogic successfully created a predictive decision support system that has attracted some of the world’s top potato growers and processors in the most demanding regions in the world. Initial trials of the technology in the US, NZ, China, and Australia have indicated yield improvements of over six percent and substantial improvements in crop profitability. For a top-tier Idaho potato farmer that can amount to a 90 percent profit improvement.

Jamie Cairns
Jamie Cairns, CropLogic’s CEO, told Scoop that, “We selected the US and potatoes, America’s fifth largest crop, as a first target because of the market size, consolidation, the demanding nature of that market, knowledgeable growers, and highly educated workforce in our target regions. With half its acreage in Washington and Idaho, the industry farms 1.17 million acres of irrigated land and produces over 20 million tonnes of potatoes annually.

“CropLogic’s aim is to become the leading provider of end-to-end agronomy services to global crop-growers – in the US we’re actively finalising an opportunity to acquire a local agronomy services firm that will deliver us a significant footprint of potatoes under management, revenues, and staff to realise the growth potential we see there,” Mr Cairns said.

“Our New Zealand-developed predictive technology offers farmers a proven decision support system to achieve more sustainable farming practices by improving yields, significantly increasing efficiencies and boosting profits. We are excited by this opportunity, which we see giving us access to big acreages in a key market where even the highest producing farms have yield variations of 15 percent depending on crop management,” he added.

The CropLogic service is provided to farmers under a seasonal per-acre subscription. Across all crops, CropLogic is targeting two million acres in America under its management over the next ten years and recurring income of US$98M in that region.

CropLogic gathers field data via low-powered wireless networks and satellite systems which are processed through its proprietary technology to give the farmer daily optimal prescriptions for applying water and nitrogen together with a rolling yield prediction.

Further information in relation to rollout of decision support services in other geographic regions where trials have already been undertaken will be announced in due course.


Read more HERE
 

The Global Miller
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