A smart mobile application that gives instant insight into the integrated pest management (IPM) situation of greenhouse growers, has won the prestigious GreenTech Innovation Award at the international GreenTech fair in Amsterdam. Natutec Scout is an intuitive mobile application and dashboard designed by leading biological solutions company, Koppert Biological Systems.
‘Natutec Scout was designed in consultation with our growers and consultants in the field, so we need to share the credit for this award with all those involved, including our Monitoring and Application Team and the software engineers who worked in close collaboration on this project,’ says Tom Vroegop, Natutec’s Product Manager. ‘It’s a real breakthrough for both growers and our own consultants because it provides a digital platform for the registration and analysis of not only pests and diseases, but also the biological control and chemical agents present in the greenhouse,’ says Vroegop. ‘The smartest thing about the app is the image recognition that has been built into the app enabling you to collect data on location without having to physically count the pests or make notes behind a computer screen or laptop in your office.’
Real-time Insight Into the State of Your Crop
The app's image recognition tool uses photographs taken of Horiver sticky traps to identify and count the insects in the crop. The IPM-data is then stored in a central database and offers growers the possibility to carry out detailed analysis of the situation in the greenhouse. This innovative tool will help consultants to support growers in an even more efficient way as they receive real-time insight into the grower’s situation. The monitoring function of the app results in timely warnings for growers and alerts for consultants who receive regular updates about situations in greenhouses where pests may have reached harmful levels. This gives growers the opportunity to act in good time. The dashboard linked to the app is able to generate advice reports and holds the key to further standardization and improvement in this field.
GreenTech 2019
Natutec Scout is on display at the GreenTech InnovationLAB, and in booth 308 in hall 10, until 13 June, along with 18 other innovations in the horticultural field which were nominated by the Innovation Award Committee. Natutec Scout was judged the winner in the Innovation Category for ‘the most unique, high-tech and advanced technological innovation’.