Counting and manually measuring fruits to make a harvest forecast is a time consuming job. With all the possibilities that smartphones offer, it was a logical step for the Austrian company Pixofarm to develop an app with which fruit growers can predict their production, NFO writes. The Pixofarm app calculates, based on photos taken by growers in the orchard, how many fruits are hanging and to what size they will grow. The app is currently only available for apples, but the development of a harvest forecast for pears and citrus is being developed.
During a webinar, Federica Succio explained how the app works. First of all, the user can divide the orchard into segments and enter data about variety, area, number of trees and date of full bloom per segment. From July, after thinning, photos can be taken of the trees. The app calculates the tree volume and how many fruits are in the tree based on the fruits that are visible in front of the camera.
Then pictures can be taken of individual fruits. The app measures the diameter and calculates the size to which these fruits will grow.
In an overview, the user can read what the number of fruits per tree and per hectare is, what the average diameter and the higher diameter are, the description of the size classification and the expected production. The figures are made transparent in various graphs.
The logarithms of 58 apple varieties, including the well-known European varieties, have now been included. The app is available in various languages, including Dutch. Pixofarm is working on various extensions, including advice on optimal fruiting. This is now ready for Gala and Pinova and is now also being worked on for other varieties.
The price of the app depends on the package that the customer chooses. For growers who only want to observe the Monitoring package is € 39 per ha per year. The more extensive version in which predictions are also made, the Forecasting package, costs € 59 per ha per year
For those who want to know more: on May 26 (English) and May 27 (German), Pixofarm is organizing two webinars. For more information, visit pixofarm.com/webinar.
Source: NFO