​FMC Ventures invests in Scanit Technologies

FMC, an agricultural science company, announced on March 04th that FMC Ventures, its venture capital arm, invested in Scanit Technologies. Headquartered in Freemont, California, Scanit is the creator of the SporeCam instrument, a sensor that proactively detects airborne pathogen spores before they infect crops. FMC and Scanit enter into this partnership to analyze Asian soybean rust in Brazil using SporeCam from the beginning of 2021.  

“Disease monitoring in the field is mostly done manually through spore capture traps, predictive modeling or NDVIS imaging – reactive approaches where readiness and reliability are a concern,” said Amar Singh, managing director at FMC Ventures. Scanit's technology measures spores physically and autonomously. When combined with other parameters, the tool promises to alert farmers before the disease becomes established, so they can make fungicide applications at the most appropriate time.  

Scanit's SporeCam instrument captures physical spores while still in the air, processes the spore data through machine learning, and alerts farmers when spore counts reach certain parameters. In parallel, FMC is expanding its Precision Agriculture Solutions to focus on crop protections for the farmer who needs a complete database of diseases and pest pressure. The goal of these efforts when combined is to implement highly accurate predictive models based on real-time data to ensure that the right crop protection products are applied accurately where and when they are needed to improve sustainability. . Optimizing harvest yield and increasing the producer’s return on investment.

“At Scanit, we are involved in improving disease prediction in agriculture,” said Glenn Wanke, chief commercial officer at Scanit Technologies. And he adds: “in partnership with farmers, we are defining thresholds for pathogen alerts, and delivering a data dashboard designed to maximize productivity and reduce operational costs. By sensing and identifying spore activity, farmers can prevent disease outbreaks.”

SporeCam instrument can be used both indoors and outdoors and is capable of presenting spore data, as well as microclimate data, including temperature, relative humidity, dew point and more, all at the farm level. FMC will hold a minority stake in Scanit Technologies. Other terms of the agreement were not revealed.