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LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA
AGRICULTURA SOSTENIBLE
THE IMPORTANCE OF IT STARTUPS IN
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Recibido: 30/10/2017 – Aceptado: 26/11/2017
Mátyás Bence Gyorgy
Docente en la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana
Quito – Ecuador
Doctor en Ciencias Ambientales
bmatyas@ups.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2694-1848
Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura
sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 81. https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955
Ciencia y
Biodiversidad
TIERRA
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Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 76
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
Resumen
El número de estudios que investigan nuevas herramientas tecnológicas está aumentando debido
a su efecto en la agricultura sostenible y la calidad ambiental. Gracias a los programas de inicio
de mentores e incubadoras en Ecuador, recientemente surgieron muchas soluciones innovadoras
en el mercado global e internacional. Estas nuevas empresas contribuyen a mejorar la
productividad agrícola y minimizan el impacto negativo en el medio ambiente. El objetivo de este
estudio es presentar algunas empresas de TI orientadas por el programa Coworking StartUPS y
discutir su importancia en la agricultura sostenible. Dos factores principales se destacan en el
estudio que afectan estas empresas de TI: la fertilidad del suelo y el rendimiento de los cultivos.
La mayoría de estas soluciones innovadoras se dirigen a la prevención de enfermedades de las
plantas al monitorear las macetas y aumentar la fertilidad del suelo mediante el desarrollo de
herramientas de apoyo a la decisión
Palabras Clave: Startups, informática, agricultura sostenible.
Abstract
Number of studies investigating new technological tools is increasing because of their effect on the
sustainable agriculture and environmental quality. Thanks to the introduced startup mentor- and
incubator programs in Ecuador, many innovative solutions appeared recently on the global and
on the international market. These startups contribute to improving agricultural productivity while
minimizing negative impact on the environment. The objective of this study is to present some IT
startups mentored by Coworking StartUPS program and discuss their importance in sustainable
agriculture. Two main factors are highlighted in the study that these IT startups affect: Soil fertility
and Crop yield. Most of these innovative solutions target the prevention of plant diseases by
monitoring the pots and increase soil fertility by developing decision support tools.
Keywords: Startups, IT, Sustainable agriculture
Ciencia y
Biodiversidad
TIERRA
……………….………….............................................................................................................................................................................................
Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 77
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
Introducción
Agriculture is undergoing a significant transformation in the data collection and data use in
order to making smarter farming decisions. “Precision agriculture has brought a heightened degree
of competition for input supply firms, forcing greater interactions among friends and foes” (Pham
and Stack, 2017). In 2015, $661 million were invested into 84 agricultural startups (Burwood-
Taylor et al., 2016). The main difference between precision agriculture and commercial agriculture
is the way of collecting gand-utilizing data. The precision agriculture in the sustainability’s ideal
utilizes and combines different technological solutions (such as geographical positioning systems,
geomapping, sensors, variable rate technology etc.) to increase crop yield while minimizing
negative impact on the environment This study aims to introduce two Ecuadorian startups mentored
by Coworking Startups program having great potential to improve the precision agriculture.
Materiales y Métodos
The Coworking Startups is an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem established by
Salesian Polytechnic University. The main objective of this initiative is providing business
mentorship and incubation program primarily for the university students. Working with People
(WWP) model, Project Based Learning (PBL) processes, standards of the International Project
Management association and ISO 21500 protocol are applied and/or combined in the program.
“The technical‐entrepreneurial component integrates the competencies for the formulation and
evaluation of entrepreneurship projects, such as technical and business instruments that allow the
generation of goods and services for society” (Salgado et al., 2017).
The first phase of the startup mentorship is based on PBL and project management
processes. (Fig.1).
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Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 78
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
Figure 1. Project phases course with the PBL approach and project management process (Salgado
et al., 2017).
After a startup collected the conclusions, a business plan need to be completed. An
academic startup can be considered successful when it starts to serving its first clients. In the
followings, two successful academic startups will be introduce that contribute to improving the
sustainable agriculture on an international level.
Agroscan: is a startup that utilizes drones for making informative maps for the farmers
regarding the crop yield. The service provided by Agroscan helps to farmers mapping large pots,
drawing attention to the problematic areas and concluding the potential reasons (for example lack
of irrigation, exiguous fertilization or pesticide). The service includes the following processes: fly
planning, area flying over, mapping, data analyses. Firstly, a mobile application provides an
opportunity to planning the flying routes.
Ciencia y
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Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 79
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
Pix4Dcapture is the easy-to-use flight planning mobile app that creates automatic and optimized
flight plans to map a defined area from your mobile device. Pix4Dcapture is available for Android and
IOS devices as well.
Using PARROT SEQUOIA drone’s cameras and sensors the mapping can be carried out.
Secondly, the Sequoia multispectral sensor captures both visible and invisible images, providing
calibrated data to optimally monitor the health and vigor of the crops. Sequoia captures calibrated
wavelength, Green, Red, Red-Edge and Near Infrared to highlight the health of plants.
Ciencia y
Biodiversidad
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Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 80
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
To process and analyze the multispectral images of the crops the Harvest Cloud is applied, an
agricultural mapping platform in the cloud, effective and easy to use. Just dragging the images to the
platform and analysing processes can be completed. Analysing the status of the crops is possible in
cloud due to the report of Harvest Cloud that uses the maps generated by the platform where they will
indicate the required indices according to the subscription plans.
Area coverage possible: 80ha (200ac) in a single flight at 120m flight altitude (400ft) with the
following range: up to 2km with Parrot Skycontroller 2, in an unobstructed area free of interferences.
Ground resolution: 14.8cm/px (5.5in/px) at 120m (400ft) flight altitude. Automatic flight plan powered
by Pix4Dcapture mobile app. Hand launch for take-off Automatic landing.
Weight of the drone: 780gr | 28oz without Parrot Sequoia. Take Off Weight: 940g / 33oz with
Parrot Sequoia & mount. Size: 1150x580x120mm (45x22x5in). Wingspan: 1150 mm (45 in).
Removable wings for transport. The following sensors are applied: Airspeed sensor (Pitot tube) Built-
in GPS + GLONASS Inertial Navigation System Altimeter, Ultrasound, Optical flow camera.
Transmission range: Up to 2km with Parrot Skycontroller 2, in an unobstructed area free of
interferences Wi-Fi AC-type, 2 bi-band antennas (2,4 and 5GHz). The following resolution can be
achieved for images: 14Mpx wide angle camera, Video: 1080p Full HD, Video streaming: 360p / 720p
Internal Memory: 32GB. The RGB camera can provides the following resolution: 16 Mpx, 4608x3456
pixels HFOV: 63.9°, VFOV: 50.1°, DFOV: 73.5°. The global shutter single-band cameras provide the
following resolution: 1.2 Mpx, 1280x960 pixels HFOV: 70.6°, VFOV: 52.6°, DFOV: 89.6°. The range
of the separate bands: Green (550nm BP 40nm), Red (660nm BP 40nm), Red Edge (735nm BP 10nm)
Near infrared (790nm BP 40nm) (Agroscan, 2017).
Ciencia y
Biodiversidad
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Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 81
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
Grupo Dharma
Grupo Dharma is a startup that deals with Business Intelligence. They can connect any data
source (sensors, any database as SQL and NoSQL, Flat files, Excel files, field data, billing systems,
etc.). The algorithms they developed integrate the provided information into their platform and through
business intelligence and artificial intelligence techniques improve the farmer’s decision.
Using the plataform the client can: receive predictions of sales, cultivation, production, weather
view customer or product sales behaviour map geolocation of Product demand compare the presence
in social networks and analysis of emotions of the company versus its main competitors realize Real
Time Inventory Control create financial and Sales Analysis
Previously Grupo Dharma used Power BI, Cognitive services on Azure, Asp and Javascript R
and DAX for the algorithms. They already developed their own algorithms that permits automate the
analysis and predict in real time (Grupo Dharma, 2017).
The platform can make advices to a smarter farmer’s decision regarding the crop rotation,
irrigation or prize determination. In some cases, if enough data is provided, the system may advise to
cultivate another plant in the given area in order to achieving greater profit for the forthcoming season.
The platform is available on Windows, iOS, Android.
Conclusiones
Agriculture is undergoing a significant transformation in the data collection and data use in
Ciencia y
Biodiversidad
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Como citar este artículo:
Bence, M. (Enero – Diciembre 2019). La importancia de las TI Strauss en la agricultura sostenible. Tierra Infinita (5), 75 - 82
https://doi.org/10.32645/26028131.955 82
LA IMPORTANCIA DE LAS TI
STRAUSS EN LA AGRICULTURA
SOSTENIBLE
order to making smarter farming decisions. The importance of the IT startups is continuously
increasing due to their positive effect on the sustainable agriculture and environmental quality.
Using AI, BI, and sensors greater yield can be achieved while minimizing environmental impact.
However, it should be mention that there is digital gap between the traditional and precision
farmers. To ensure stable market conditions for the rural areas, we must improve the IT knowledge
of the traditional farmers.
Recomendaciones
Basically, the Agroscan is designed for the commercial farmers who cultivate large areas.
Agroscan is useful for the pots that are difficult to be scan manually.
Grupo Dharma can be utilice for both small and large farmers. It should be mention that, it
is more useful when more data are provide.
Referencias Bibliográficas
Agroscan manual, 2017 (available on http://www.agroscan.ec).
Burwood-Taylor, L., Leclerc, R., & Tilney, M. (2016, February 16). AgTech investing report: Year
in review 2015. AgFunder. (Available at https://research.agfunder.com/2015/AgFunder-
AgTech-Investing-Report-2015.pdf
Grupo Dharma, 2018 (www.grupodharma.org)
Salgado, J.P., De Los Rios, I., López, M. Management of Entrepreneurship Projects from Project‐
Based Learning: Coworking StartUPS Project at Salesian Polytechnic Universit), Ecuador.
Inbook: Business, Management and Economics. “Case Study of Innovative Projects - Successful
Real Cases”, Edition: August 30, 2017, Chapter: 11. pp.227-245 (DOI:
10.5772/intechopen.68492)
Xuan Pham, Martin Stack. How data analytics is transforming agriculture. Business Horizons, (in
press) 2017. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2017.09.011).
