BeeHero, the pioneer of data-driven precision pollination, has officially announced the launch of its groundbreaking Pollination Research Stations (PRS). Situated in California, the stated stations will leverage BeeHero’s innovative data platform to provide an unprecedented ability in the context of monitoring bloom progress and bee activity across the world’s most important almond-producing region. Talk about the same on a slightly deeper level, these stations will basically deliver at your disposal real-time, accurate, and extensive data on bloom progression and bee activity, thus shifting away significantly from a past where farmers would have to work with a miniscule amount of data. Once generated, this intelligence influx, coming on the back of advanced scientific monitoring techniques, will be studied to provide invaluable insights via a public dashboard. Notably enough, given the simplistic theme attached to the entire effort, and also because of how it delivers on its promised value proposition without charging anything, every farmer should be able to leverage the same and make informed decisions, adapt to changing environmental conditions, foster more resilient and sustainable agricultural practices, as well as improve their yield potential.
“We’re not just measuring massive amounts of data, we’re transforming pollination practices. Our innovative platform is a unique source of this type of live information for growers, essentially providing a ‘bee livestream’ that grants unprecedented access to the heartbeat of pollination,” said Omer Davidi, CEO and Co-Founder of BeeHero. “We look forward to continuing to arm agriculture stakeholders and growers with new data and tools to make more informed decisions and maximize yields.”
More on the research stations in question is going to reveal that each one features precision-oriented instruments that are tailored to deliver comprehensive and accurate real-time data. These instruments include, for starters, dedicated weather monitoring equipment, which bears the responsibility to alert growers on potential frost advisories. Such alerts can go a long distance, especially when the agenda is to safeguard crops against potential damage. Next up, the station will come decked up with these Bee Counters that are meant to provide highly accurate bee flight times, and therefore, facilitate precise tracking of pollination activity to the single bee level. Another piece of instrument coming into play here would be scales. The stated scales, on their part, will supply insights into colony weight gain, something which is understood to be a key indicator of foraging and pollination effectiveness. Rounding up highlights is the presence of cameras, put in place to deliver visual confirmation regarding bloom progression throughout California’s orchards so to enhance monitoring capabilities.
To understand the significance of such a development, we must consider that, while nearly 75% of crops grown for human consumption rely on pollination; most growers still lack visibility into these processes. This causes them to rely on their best guesses and approximations. The stated uncertainty notably arrives alongside the pressure of navigating unpredictable weather and the usual challenges involved in day-to-day operations. Fortunately, BeeHero has been trying to change that over the recent past. Last year, the company had launched its Pollination Insight Platform, an in-field sensing solution which can measure pollinator activity and improve yields in seed, row, and specialty crops. The said platform came out as a complement to another one of company’s products i.e. in-hive sensors.
