Companies Partner in Crop Monitoring Technology

Cresco Ag, LLC, a Memphis-based agricultural information management company, announced that it has signed a regional license agreement with Smartfield, Inc., a Lubbock-based information technology company that provides in-crop analysis tools to enable crop management decisions. The collaboration will combine innovative in-field monitoring technologies developed by Smartfield and CrescoAg's information management system to create a regional network that will allow growers to monitor and manage their crops throughout the growing season.

"This exciting partnership will enable our customers to access and evaluate precise information about their crop in real-time," said Charles Michell, executive vice president of CrescoAg. "With this innovative service offering, CrescoAg is not only adding value to its business and that of its customers, but revolutionizing agriculture intelligence business altogether."

Smartfield's SmartCrop system utilizes sensing technology coupled with algorithms and methodology to determine when crops are experiencing stress. Multiple sensors positioned in a field collect and record crop canopy temperature and environmental data throughout the day, and the SmartCrop system uses information from these sensors to determine if the crop is in stress. The CropInsight database and web interface maintains data about the crop and sends signals for an intervention like irrigation or a topical application when a maximum stress time has been reached.

CrescoAg tested the Smartfield technology in five states this summer, utilizing the sensors to evaluate varietal and hybrid response to stress and irrigation timing, fungicide applications in corn, cotton and soybeans as well as to view crop responses to various agronomic practices, said Michell. The data generated from this technology, along with several other data points are being used to populate CrescoAg's proprietary MesoFarm database, the central repository for all of the company's farm data across the U.S.