Knowing what flying and creeping creatures are present at a location is crucial in agriculture and horticulture, but manually monitoring insects is sheer drudgery. That is about to change. With the results from the project ‘Automatic Insect monitoring at and around nurseries’, North Brabant can fully focus on digitisation to increase biodiversity and refine crop protection. 

Technology meets nature
At the core of this project lies a strong collaboration between technology and science. Faunabit provides an innovative insect camera that runs entirely on solar energy. These cameras operate day and night, ready to capture every insect that passes by. But just a photo is not enough; and that’s where Naturalis Biodiversity Center comes in. They provide the advanced AI algorithms that analyse the images and high speed and identify the insects. 

As a result, growers have immediate insight into the balance between beneficial pollinators and harmful pest insects, without having to go into the fields themselves with their magnifying glasses. 

In practice in Zundert
The practical translation to the industry is supported by the Valorisatielab Varta, which focuses on capitalising on the gained knowledge, and Treeport BCT Partners BV, which is one of the driving forces behind the realisation of the project. The physical testing grounds of the project are formed by the nursery plots of Boomkwekerij Huijbregts and Roelands Boomkwekerijen. These companies act as pilot locations, where the cameras demonstrate how they map the balance between harmful and beneficial insects. 

Finally, the Treeport collective contributes to anchoring the project within the network, ensuring that the collected data not only train algorithms, but helps the entire industry in optimising sustainable crop protection.