BASF

The development of agricultural phytosanitary products is constantly seeking to improve their effectiveness and enhance sustainability in farming operations.

This is something BASF knows very well, as they have been leading research and production of fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and more for years. Now, in an increasingly digitalized world, they have decided to go further and look for ways to make the process itself more efficient.

In the case of developing new insecticides, trials have traditionally been evaluated manually by counting the number of insects one by one on crop leaves. This was a tedious task that could lead to potential inaccuracies.

TECNALIA and BASF have collaborated with the goal of developing a reliable solution to digitalize and automate both insect counting and the subsequent access to collected data and reported results.

“Thus, we have created a mobile application and a platform that digitalizes and automates these processes. This solution, which incorporates artificial intelligence, enables a reliable and repeatable analysis and performs automatic image processing to determine the types and quantities of insects on each leaf and plant in the different trials conducted in greenhouses,” explains Laura Gómez, researcher at TECNALIA in Industry and Mobility, and Next Generation Factory.

“This new digitalization process accelerates the development of new products and allows for faster and more data-driven decision-making. The solution is already registered for reporting official results of insecticide trials and is being used in BASF trial stations worldwide,” notes Xavier Ribera, Director of Communications, Institutional Relations, and Sustainability at BASF Spain and Portugal.

Thanks to this jointly executed project, they have developed an efficient AI-powered application that enhances sustainability, providing a clear dual benefit—both economic and social.

On one hand, farmers benefit from more efficient R&D processes that lead to crop protection innovations tailored to their specific needs; on the other hand, society benefits from more effective and sustainable products that ensure food quality.