Dr. Saber Miresmailli
Winner of the IAF 2015 Award of Excellence for Innovation to Dr. Saber Miresmailli.
A new device out of Vancouver, B.C. will give growers all the information they need to manage the health of their crop without laying a finger on a single plant. It’s hand-held and currently unnamed, but the technology is definitely making positive progress as it is tested in greenhouses in B.C. and in cowpea crops in West Africa, according to Saber Miresmailli, co-founder and CEO of Ecoation Innovative Solutions (EIS).
“Farmers are a really good bunch. They don’t want to use pesticides; they have to use pesticides,” Miresmailli said. “The device is all based on talking to the plant. It enables growers to find the problem fast enough to enable effective solutions.”
The device scans a plant for its own unique signals of distress and is based on the research into the study of plant and insect interactions. Miresmailli found that greenhouse tomatoes, like all plants, have signals to communicate with beneficial insects. By studying these, he created what he calls a dictionary of tomato plant language.
That language and additional data allows the scanning device to observe the plant’s “body language” and determine what course of action is necessary, if any.
The grower receives the information and takes steps to help the plants before serious damage has occurred. Early detection in one plant prevents it from spreading to others. Crop-loss is stopped in its tracks.
“Plants send SOS signals to attract good bugs,” he noted. “It’s a well-established biological phenomenon.”
Currently, the device, which won The Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. (IAF) 2015 Award of Excellence for Innovation, is being deployed in greenhouses, with the help of testing at Houweling’s Tomatoes will soon expand to outdoor crops.
“The technology is so versatile… we can take a version to poor farmers around the world,” Miresmailli said.
Cowpeas in Benin, West Africa is one of the few crops grown in the region and provides income and sustenance for many individuals and families. Almost everyone in the region has a cell phone, but limited access to other forms of technology or the Internet.
The Benin testing is an ideal model because the region’s most prolific pest eats portions of the cowpea flower leaving a healthy looking plant, but no fruit. It can all happen in just three to four days. With the hand-held scanning device, the larvae are detected early enough to stop the damage.
For those thinking this all sounds too good to be true, consider that in the past decade the iPhone has gone from being a phone to a multi-functional device.
Commercial trials will begin in 2016 with expected sales in 2017. Miresmailli thanks organizations like IAF for funding, support and mentorship during the process.
Farmers interested in being part of the commercial trials in 2016 can contact Miresmailli at saber@crop-sense.com.
