Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere right now, especially in agriculture. From crop forecasting to automated monitoring, the promise of AI is clear: save time, reduce labour, and make better decisions. But in our experience, there is one question that matters more than any other when it comes to new products and technology: is it accurate and reliable in the real world?
At the Horticultural and Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC), this is where we spend most of our time. We focus less on imagining what new products or technologies could do and more on testing how they actually perform under real production conditions.
A great example of this is our current work with FloraTrack AI, a company developing AI-powered tools to support greenhouse monitoring. One feature of their platform uses image recognition to scan sticky cards, a staple in pest monitoring, and automatically identify and count insects. For growers, this has the potential to significantly reduce a time-intensive task in the greenhouse, and better inform growing decisions.
But greenhouses are not controlled lab environments. Lighting changes. Pest pressure varies. Cards age. That is why validation matters.
Our role in this project is to ground-truth the technology by collecting human counts from sticky cards in real time and directly comparing them to the software’s analysis. This hands-on, side-by-side approach allows us to answer the questions that ultimately determine whether a new product or technology can move forward. Can I trust this data? Does it perform consistently? Is it ready for commercial use? Innovation moves fast. Adoption does not. Bridging that gap is where applied research makes the biggest difference.
At HESIC, we work with companies to test, refine, and validate new products and emerging technologies so they can move forward with confidence. If you are developing a solution that needs proof before scale, we are ready to put it to the test.
If you would like to learn more about our resources, capabilities and how we are ready to work with you, visit our website, and contact David DiPietro at [email protected].