"And if tomorrow I'm an apple-seller too..."
In Israel, drones have started picking apples. The machine determines the ripeness, sweetness and integrity of the fruit, and then gently plucks it from the branch.
Apple-pickers have long been considered menial work of the unwashed. The title of this piece is taken from the musical “Annie.” Now, those jobs might be outsourced to AI drones and robots.
In an avocado orchard in central Israel, a tractor pulls a pollination device designed by BloomX, an Israeli company. Flag-sized attachments brush the plants, drawing and then spreading pollen with an electrostatic charge. BloomX's technology, incorporating AI and data analysis, is used to predict optimal pollination times, thereby maximizing crop yields.
The company's founder and CEO, Thai Sade, spoke about the increasing need for such artificial pollination. He pointed out that it tackles many challenges, such as the declining insect populations responsible for natural pollination and the threats posed by climate change. “Our pollination is an attempt to deal with many of the problems we have today, which we expect to worsen in the future,” Sade commented.
One of the farmers using BloomX's technology, Ofri Yongrman Sela, shared that the AI-enhanced pollination method boosted their avocado yield by up to 40 percent. Alongside drones and big data, he believes technology has entered every corner of agriculture.
In fact, Start-Up Nation Central, a non-governmental organization promoting Israeli technology, recorded more than 500 agri-tech companies in Israel. Shmuel Friedman, from Green Wadi company, highlighted the high demand for Israeli technological expertise. He believes the combination of Israel's agricultural experience with its innovative tech sector provides valuable solutions to global farming challenges.
A major issue is the dwindling workforce in agriculture, especially in developed countries. It's here that robots and AI have a crucial role to play. One such innovation comes from Tevel, a company founded by Yaniv Maor that uses drones for fruit picking.
Tevel's system consists of eight drones connected to a platform employing AI and machine vision. The drones not only determine which fruit is ripe but also assess sugar content and detect diseases. They then gently pick the fruit using a suction mechanism.
"The system is completely autonomous, from the decision on whether to pick the fruit and its color and how to reach it and detach it,” Maor explains. The fruit-picking technology is already in use in Israel, the US, Italy, and Chile and works with over 40 different types of fruit.
Yongrman Sela summed up the sentiment: “The feeling is that we’re just at the beginning.” Indeed, as these Israeli innovators demonstrate, the confluence of AI, drones, and big data is opening up a new era in agriculture, paving the way for a more sustainable, efficient, and tech-infused future.