FarmConnect plans to supply agricultural data, bee activity analysis, and artificial intelligence to overseas markets. Source = PalmConnect[KOAT x IT Donga] Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency and IT Donga introduce promising startups that will lead the development and digital transformation of Korea’s agriculture. 

Meet agricultural startups across the country that will enrich our lives with ingenious ideas, products, and original technologies.

Governments around the world put a lot of effort into researching and developing advanced agricultural technologies. 

The purpose is to secure food and increase self-sufficiency in preparation for unexpected events such as climate abnormalities and disruption of the international logistics distribution network. 

Among these, smart farm is attracting attention as a technology that will eliminate space and climate constraints when growing crops.

Many people think of smart farming as a simple technology. 

It is believed that if smart farm equipment is installed in a glass greenhouse or greenhouse and agricultural methods are applied, crops will naturally grow well and yields will increase. 

However, ‘agricultural data’ is essential to completely and properly operate a smart farm.

Mu-hyun Kim, CEO of FarmConnect. Source = FarmConnect

Agricultural data is created by carefully analyzing various information such as the climate and environment around the agricultural industry site, the characteristics of crops, and the growth process. It is easy to understand as real-time customized data that helps grow crops. 

Based on this agricultural data, the role of AgTech (a compound word of Agriculture and Technology) startup ‘FarmConnect’ is to improve the perfection of advanced agricultural technology while helping both existing farms and smart farms.

Mu-hyun Kim, CEO of FarmConnect, worked as a data expert at a large IT and telecommunication company in Korea. 

As head of the technology research center of an agricultural corporation, he discovered a large gap between the inconveniences in the agricultural industry, the demands of farmers, and digital agricultural technology.

FarmConnect’s agricultural data technology. It collects abundant data around agricultural industry sites, analyzes it with artificial intelligence, and even provides predictions. Source = FarmConnect

Among digital agricultural technologies, various well-known environmental sensors quantify the environmental conditions of agricultural fields, such as temperature, humidity, and amount of sunlight. However, they only create simple data such as ‘the current temperature is 24℃’ or ‘the current humidity is 55%’. Simple data is difficult to apply to agricultural fields with different environments and conditions. Even if applied, it did not yield any benefits, such as reducing farmers' labor or increasing crop yields.

CEO Mu-hyun Kim noted that environmental data analysis is essential for smart agriculture, but it takes a lot of time to do this. 

And he planned a service that collects data, such as the farm environment and the growth status of crops, and uses an analysis algorithm to inform real-time information about abnormalities in crops and actions to be taken in the farm environment. 

For example, if ‘The current temperature is 24℃’ is simple data, ‘The current temperature is predicted to rise rapidly to 24℃. 

As a result, the average temperature in section 1 will rise from 18.3℃ to 19.5℃, and crop growth is expected to change from a nutritional state to a reproductive state. 

Agricultural data provides detailed information in this way.

FarmConnect's solution. 

Farmers only need to control the farm environment as instructed by this solution. Then, the harvest time and expected harvest amount are determined. Source = FarmConnect

He embarks on research and development of agricultural data that will bring real benefits to farmers by increasing the convenience of crop cultivation and yield.
Agricultural technology experts and hardware and software developers gathered one after another. 

FarmConnect executives and employees visited agricultural industry sites, researched data, and gained experience through farming themselves. 

The Korea Agricultural Technology Promotion Agency also supported FarmConnect through the agricultural and food venture development support project and technology commercialization.

After much effort, FarmConnect created a farm environmental analysis solution that analyzes all farm environmental data in real time, converts it into agricultural data, and delivers it. 

Climate data is analyzed in real time with sensors installed inside and outside agricultural industry sites, and the process from planting, growing, and harvesting crops and even the characteristics of the surrounding environment are applied. 

Then, agricultural data is created to help farmers grow crops well.

CEO Mu-hyun Kim (far right) introducing FarmConnect's agricultural data technology to officials. Source = FarmConnect

FarmConnect also added an artificial intelligence algorithm. 

This is the principle of analyzing and predicting by reflecting agricultural data and crop yield data. 

This technology provides predictions such as ‘The current harvest start date is predicted to be 48 days later and the expected harvest amount is predicted to be 258 kg.’ Farmers grow crops easily and well using agricultural data and prepare for harvest in advance by referring to artificial intelligence analysis results.

Agricultural data and artificial intelligence analysis are of great help not only to smart farms but also to underdeveloped greenhouse farmers. 

The smart farm penetration rate in Korea is only 10%. There are many farms that are unable to use smart farms for various reasons, such as climate, geographic constraints, and insufficient budget. Providing FarmConnect's technology to them will have a huge effect in itself. 

This is because it provides knowledge to prepare for and solve climate change and crop pests and diseases.

FarmConnect executives and staff researching and developing agricultural data technology. Source = FarmConnect

FarmConnect confirmed that the productivity of farms that adopted agricultural data increased by about 30%. 

This solution was then distributed to Cheongyang and Dangjin in South Chungcheong Province, Gongju and Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province, Gwangju Metropolitan City, Hoengseong in Gangwon Province, and Damyang in Jeollanam-do. 

The Agricultural Technology Center, which manages 1 million farms across the country, became a partner and improved and distributed this solution customized to each region.

The ‘Cheongyang Farm’ app distributed in Cheongyang, South Chungcheong Province is an analysis system designed to help the local specialties such as tomatoes, strawberries, and goji berries grow well. For this achievement, Cheongyang received several agricultural technology innovation awards. 

An app suitable for use by farmers in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, which has many large greenhouses, and an app that reflects the characteristics of Hoengseong, Gangwon, where the temperature is lower than other places, were also created and disseminated.

FarmConnect's artificial intelligence modified bee activity time analysis data. Source = FarmConnect

CEO Mu-hyun Kim, who was resolving the inconveniences of farmers with agricultural data and apps, discovered something unusual. 

Even though he reflected agricultural data well, there were times when crop yield results were not as expected. 

The cause was ‘honey bee’. Crop yields varied greatly depending on how hard the bees worked.

CEO Mu-Hyun Kim developed technology to investigate and analyze the movements of honeyl bees using artificial intelligence. 

Existing companies install sensors in bee hives to monitor bee entry and exit activities. 

FarmConnect installs a camera and uses artificial intelligence to analyze whether the bees are operating smoothly. 

Furthermore, it even finds out what kind of pollen is on your legs and how much.

FarmConnect's artificial intelligence modified bee activity analysis solution. Source = FarmConnect

Honey bees help crops bloom and bear fruit. However, if the surrounding environment, such as temperature and humidity, is not appropriate, the honey bees do not work or work lazily. 

If the honey bee has not left the hive or has a lot of pollen on its body or legs, its activity level is low. 

If the honey bee brought pollen of a different color than before, it means that the farm environment was not good and the bee worked elsewhere.
Honey bees usually work a set number of hours at a certain time, and if this changes, it is a bad sign.

Then, crops will not be able to fertilize smoothly. In the case of tomatoes, if fertilization does not occur during the 10 days of flowering, they will not bear fruit. As a result of FarmConnect's investigation, it was confirmed that the production of tomatoes per planting season differs by more than 15% depending on the amount of work done by the honey bees.

FarmConnect's agricultural data solution being used in the agricultural industry. Source = FarmConnect

Based on the survey results, FarmConnect's technology sends signals to farmers to replace honey bee hives or inspect the surrounding environment. I

In collaboration with KOTRA, we are preparing local field tests to spread this technology to agriculturally advanced countries such as Canada, Spain, and Azerbaijan.

Although they have developed agricultural data and various artificial intelligence technologies to help farmers, CEO Mu-hyun Kim says there is still much room for improvement. 

Securing a lot of data to advance artificial intelligence and developing technology to analyze it are both challenges for FarmConnect.

FarmConnect's staff engaged in research and development. Source = FarmConnect

The clue to solving the challenge has already been found. It is a ‘digital twin’. This is a technology that creates a virtual environment similar to a certain field by utilizing data acquired in real time from agricultural industry sites. By substituting and experimenting with data in a virtual environment, environmental changes are predicted. By upgrading agricultural data and artificial intelligence with digital twins, harvest yields can be predicted more easily and accurately.

At one time, the price of watermelons in August rose more than three to four times compared to previous years. The tropical nights, which were in full swing in July at the time, hindered the growth of watermelons and had a negative impact on the harvest season. This type of damage could not be predicted using existing technology. However, by using FarmConnect's digital twin and agricultural data, it is possible to predict this and prepare to avoid damage. This is because when variables such as tropical nights arise, artificial intelligence immediately analyzes agricultural data and advises preparation.

FarmConnect plans to supply agricultural data, bee activity analysis, and artificial intelligence to overseas markets. Source = FarmConnect

FarmConnect applies digital twins not only to agricultural data but also to honey bee activities. By analyzing and predicting the activities of honey bees, mass breeding is possible. 

This technology is being advanced together with Canada and the Netherlands. FarmConnect's long-term vision is to change the aspect of the agricultural industry through information and communication technologies such as agricultural data and artificial intelligence, and to establish itself as a low-carbon, eco-friendly data platform.

CEO Mu-hyun Kim said, “Agricultural data is a technology that will help agricultural markets and farmers not only in our country but also around the world. “We will establish ourselves as an agtech company that contributes to the development of the global agricultural market by advancing bee activity analysis artificial intelligence and digital twin environmental prediction technology.”

Reportor: Ju-kyung Cha(racingcar@itdonga.com)

Post Updated on March 31th 2023.

Original Post Link (https://www.donga.com/news/It/article/all/20230331/118619929/1)