Metos and xarvio form partnership in Brazil to monitor pests in soybeans, cotton and corn in real time

BASF Digital Farming GmbH and Pessl Instruments GmbH (Austria) have signed a global collaboration agreement on research and development activities to monitor pests in major crops. In Brazil, the partnership will be carried out through Pessl Instruments' local subsidiary, Metos Brasil, and aims to improve pest management in soybeans, corn and cotton.

The collaboration will unite Metos' hardware and software capabilities, notably its automated insect monitoring trap iMETOS iSCOUT, with the image recognition and analysis of BASF Digital Farming's market-leading application: xarvio SCOUTING. The combination of experience, precision data and advanced digital knowledge will offer farmers, for the first time, near real-time, field-level observations to further optimize crop production.

The first collaborative project in Brazil focuses on monitoring and modeling for the Helicoverpa armigera caterpillar in soybean, corn and cotton crops. Another pest focus of the partnership is the cotton boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis). The tests began in May 2021 and aim to help farmers recognize and monitor pests in their crops in an automated and assertive way.

"One of the biggest challenges in soybean, corn and cotton production is obtaining specific, real-time data on the monitoring of some pests in the field. With this partnership, we can accurately identify the pest species present in the field and the level of infestation", explains Ricardo Arruda, Digital Technical Manager at xarvio.

By combining xarvio SCOUTING image recognition and analysis with the iSCOUT automated insect trap, it is possible to jointly solve this problem.

With insect monitoring it will be possible to observe the type of insects, number of plants affected and help prevent damage from occurring. Precision agriculture equipment, with the support of artificial intelligence, allows a more detailed focus on targets and contributes to more assertive decision-making. "Precision agriculture helps ensure a more efficient use of agricultural inputs. And this is good for farmers, sustainability and biodiversity", ponders Ricardo Arruda.

"With the iSCOUT insect trap, which is fully autonomous and solar-powered, we can monitor pest pressure 24/7 and send the data, in near real-time, to xarvio SCOUTING to do the image recognition. With this, we offer farmers the best monitoring and control of insects anytime, anywhere", concluded Luciano Loman, executive director of METOS Brasil

For fruit and vegetable crops, monitoring will be available in Argentina, Europe and India.