Ceres Solutions Tests New Innovation Hub – CropLife

Technology is being put to the test 24 hours a day in an extraordinary new outdoor lab hosted by regional cooperative Ceres Solutions. On June 21, a small group of ag industry representatives were brought behind the scenes to preview what is being dubbed The Hub at 63 by those involved in the project. In September, more stakeholders and farmers will get the chance to explore it.

What is The Hub? “This is our live testing and proving ground for all types of technologies which have the potential to impact agriculture,” says Matt Clark, Digital Technology Manager at Ceres. Matt and Ceres Hub Project Lead Abby Anspach have worked with the internal Ceres team as well as industry partners to bring the Hub to life.

Ceres Solutions Director of Digital Experience Drew Garretson explains the motivation behind creating it. “Our organization evaluates new technology constantly, so we need to test in real time for performance, accuracy and reliability. We are looking for those next practical applications of innovation that will make impact for our farmer-owners.”

Step One: Create Connectivity

The first step in creating The Hub was establishing connectivity; a well-known barrier to adopting innovation for every rural community. That was accomplished last year through a partnership convened by Land O’Lakes, between Ceres Solutions, Watch Communications and Microsoft’s Airband initiative. Watch Communications is the local internet service provider, and Land O’Lakes served as the convener through their commitment to The American Connection Project. By utilizing Ceres facility assets, Watch established reliable, high-speed broadband access to an area of six-mile radius for producers around the Ceres Perrysville seed plant. This not only benefits local residents, it also benefits the Ceres location.

Step Two: Select the Diagnostic Tools

As a member of the Ceres Solutions Digital Team, Anspach (pictured) was tasked with building relationships with vendor-partners and evaluating what technologies would be tested on the Hub acres first. She and the Ceres team decided to place in-field soil sensors, pest monitoring cameras, soil moisture sensors and crop irrigation probes throughout the planted acres for the first season of discovery.

Tech partners on these installations were Chrysalabs, Teralytic, Metos by Pessel Pest Monitoring, LeafSpec LLC and Trilogy. Ceres has also been utilizing mobile NPK testing and a new diagnostic leaf scanning technology currently in development at Purdue University.

Microsoft played a pivotal role in arranging the partnership with Trilogy who provided the Lorawan gateway for connecting some of the sensors on the field.

Step Three: Turn it On

The next step was for the co-op’s agronomy team to “plug in and turn on” the test plot acres as a controlled testing site. That officially happened in early summer, and Anspach coordinated a small preview event on June 21 for key stakeholders who were curious to see early results of how their devices were performing in the field. She plans to host a more expansive Hub IoT Innovation Day in September for Ceres Solutions growers and potential partners to explore this unique local resource.

“There’s really nothing like having this Hub to test and diagnose,” says Anspach. “It is already demonstrating just how quickly and effectively we can identify, respond and pivot our strategies to virtually any condition in a field. I often say it is like we have an airport landing strip now; the lights are always on and the action is constant,” she laughs.

“Connectivity makes it possible, and we’re equipped with these amazing diagnostic tools. But ultimately, our goal is to use the discoveries to help growers build success. Results will be interpreted to help our customers,” she concludes.

Step Four: Explore Potential

“In simplest terms, we flipped the switch on discovery here,” says Garretson. “Our team turned this field on.” With reliable connectivity and a place to test, the team can explore an unlimited number of devices and diagnostic tools in real time.

Garretson is quick to point out that project success is shared due to collaborative insights from some of the industry’s leading innovators. “The Hub’s potential is already exceeding our expectations, and that’s a great story,” says Garretson. “But the strength of partnerships is the rest of the story here for Ceres Solutions. We would not be able to achieve our potential on this project without the innovation community,” he notes.

Those organizations include the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN), the Purdue University College of Ag, Purdue Extension, Land O’Lakes, Inc., Truterra, and WinField United’s SureTech Laboratories, among others. In addition, the employees of Ceres Solutions at Crops 63 Perrysville and other locations have contributed to the Hub’s success.

“At Ceres, we’re passionate about innovation. This Hub has unleashed a professional curiosity for our ag tech team that we know, ultimately, can lead to more profitable decisions for farmers. We will leverage every discovery we can to help solve against the challenges of production, weather, time and labor shortages that we and our customers will face in the years to come,“ he concludes.

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In today’s complex and fast-paced crop production sector, the team at CROPLIFE keeps 21,000 agricultural retailers, distributors and their suppliers up to date on such decidedly 21st century issues as seed technology, biotechnology, precision agriculture, customer service and retention, and business management. See all author stories here.