FlyUP Project uses artificial intelligence in sugarcane and pasture management

UPL brings to the country technology for aerial mapping of weeds and diseases in sugarcane fields and pastures. "The FlyUP project is an innovation based on artificial intelligence and also on the use of extremely high-precision images, with the ability to reach ground level", explains the company's president in Brazil, Fabio Torretta.

"Technological innovation is essential to ensure that sugarcane, the third most important crop in the country, and livestock, the most important animal crop in Brazil, achieve even higher levels of productivity and quality. Preventing weeds, fungi and insects from destroying sugarcane fields and pastures, we are contributing to the sustainability and productivity of activities and, consequently, to maintaining affordable prices for biofuels and other sugarcane products, such as sugar, in addition to beef itself", says Torretta, who He is an agronomist. Together, sugarcane and pasture represent close to 20% of UPL's business in Brazil. In 2019, the company's total revenue was R$7 billion.

FlyUP starts operating immediately with a focus on sugarcane. Sugarcane fields are very susceptible to pests, diseases and weeds. In the first half of the year, more than US$785 million were invested in fungicides, herbicides and insecticides in the country's sugarcane crops. Among the problems that most concern the crop are viola string, castor bean, mucuna, colonião, brachiaria and orange sugarcane rust. In total, 41 million hectares of sugarcane were treated.

FlyUP will be used in pastures close to the beginning of the rainy season, in the last quarter of the year. Pasture pesticides represented investments of US$60 million from livestock farmers, but there is great potential for improving pasture management in the country. 13,6 million hectares were treated, with around 170 million hectares of pastures in the country.

"The FlyUP project is the evolution of crop mapping projects, which began with sugarcane in 2012, using helicopters. This new solution carries out dynamic, agile and precise analyses. The detailing of phytosanitary problems and the management of the information collected , in real time, allow for faster and more assertive decision-making, aiming to rationalize and solve problems through the use of agricultural pesticides with economic and environmental sustainability", highlights Marcelo Zanchi, marketing director at UPL in Brazil.

FlyUP will have three aircraft with modern AI2 technology, from the Israeli company Taranis. The device captures images with a resolution of 0,3 mm/pixel of fields at leaf level and can cover 5.000 hectares per day at 200 km/h. From the flyover, UPL customers receive information and insights about crops immediately, identifying the first signs of the emergence of weeds, fungal diseases and even nutritional deficiencies.

"Based on the flight and the crossing of specialized information, FlyUP offers very high precision and issues reports on field conditions, indicating the type of threat, as well as the species and the infestation, as well as elements that help in choosing the most appropriate treatment ", explains the sugarcane manager at UPL Brasil, Carlos Peres, who is also an agronomist.

Reports from each FlyUP flight to sugarcane mills and livestock projects are technically validated and reviewed. The final reports are signed by Pedro Christoffoleti, doctor in phytopathology and weeds from the State University of Colorado, in the United States, professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), professor and researcher at the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (Esalq) from USP.