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José Antonio Gutiérrez, Agroair:

"Prediberry is an AI device capable of forecasting berry harvests every week"

Sustainability and profitability in plantations require more engineering expertise to achieve success. The threat posed by the increasing heat and drought is forcing the sector to develop devices to help optimize crops. In the case of berries, due to their short shelf life, it's necessary to go a step further.

"Faced with pollution and water loss, we propose sustainability and efficiency," says José Antonio Gutiérrez, CEO of Agroair. "Prediberry, our new AI-based technology, is capable of predicting berry harvests every week."

© Agroair

Berries have a short shelf life, so we must optimize logistics processes to the maximum, the CEO stated. "Having an accurate crop forecast is key to achieving this. Knowing when production will boom is positive for growers," he added.

Prediberry is an AI model created in 2022 together with the University of Seville and is trained with data from more than 20 seasons. "It is based on historical harvests and weather forecasts, among other data. Knowing how many kilos you're going to produce and when production will peak, with 5% to 15% margin error, is important for growers to negotiate the value of berries in the market. If the grower can guarantee the harvest to the supermarket, he can sell it better."

Huelva's berry production has a significant competitive edge over imported products from third countries when the season begins, from December to May, thanks to Huelva's proximity to Europe and weather. "Prediberry improves the grower's bargaining power. Now, not only will they have better logistical reasons, they will also have more precise knowledge," the CEO said.

© Agroair

80% Efficiency in water use
"Climate is changing. Huelva never had any water issues. In the last three years, however, we have had no rain, and we have suffered 50% restrictions. The heat is increasing. We've had transplants in mid-October that have collapsed because the weather was as hot as in August," he said.

With this tool, "we can achieve 80% efficiency in water use. Some growers have gone from needing 7,000 cubic metres to 4,000. According to our calculations, a berry crop project with the Community of Irrigators of Palos de la Frontera has saved the equivalent of approximately 500 Olympic swimming pools of water," Gutierrez stressed.

Another interesting aspect is knowing the amount of nitrates that enter the system and those that drain below the root and go to the aquifer. "Nitrogen input in fertigation is one of the main causes of nitrate pollution. The savings in Huelva's berry plantations have been approximately 120 kg of nitrates per hectare, which is also very interesting for Almeria and Murcia, which have also been declared as vulnerable areas," he stated.

Agroair, a startup born in 2021, has conducted experiments in 12 plots. In just 4 years, it has already reached 15% of Spain's entire strawberry production. "The trend is to expand this technology throughout South America and Europe as many countries are experiencing unexpected droughts," Gutiérrez stated.

For more information:
José Antonio Gutiérrez
CEO
Agroair
Tel: +34 618 825 941
Email: info@agroair.es
www.agroair.es