Croptracker’s Starch Quality Vision Brings Consistency to Preharvest Testing

An artificial intelligence approach to the apple industry’s most common quality test

Croptracker is proud to announce the launch of Starch Quality Vision; the latest artificial intelligence assessment tool for apple growers. Starch Quality Vision (SQV) technology empowers orchard managers and apple growers to empirically and accurately score starch pattern index (SPI) tests without the need for a trained assessor.

The starch-iodine test is one of the most important pre-harvest tests in the apple industry. In the
weeks up to harvest time, growers may perform dozens of starch tests on hundreds of apples as they chart the maturity of the fruit and plan their harvests accordingly.

“What we learned early on in development is that a lot of growers are just eyeballing their starch tests to their best guess, and the human eye’s best guess is extremely subjective,” said Croptracker CEO Matt Deir. “During testing, even highly trained orchard managers who have been doing this for years scored the exact same fruit differently, even just five minutes apart. Growers use this test to determine their harvest dates, so a consistent score is critical to maximizing the quality and shelf life.”

To develop Starch Quality Vision, the Croptracker team met with orchard managers from around the world to learn from the best in the business. With their help, SQV AI has trained on thousands of scored starch pattern tests.

Starting this season SQV software will be provided as software as a service (SaaS) to Ontario Apple Growers members as part of their ongoing partnership with Cropracker. Using SQV, apple growers can be sure of the consistency and accuracy of their starch assessments, using just a mobile phone or iPad.

Are you a savvy Croptracker user interested in becoming an R&D partner? Book a meeting with our team to get started this season.

Croptracker develops agtech solutions for industry leaders. Located in Eastern Ontario, Canada, our mission is to make crop production safer, more efficient, and more profitable. Designed in partnership with fresh market producers and distributors, every tool we create is based on direct industry feedback.

Interested in learning more about Croptracker? Learn more about our Farm Management Software, or book a demonstration to schedule a meeting with our product experts.