increase font size
The easy-to-use Spectre technology allows users to only stand and raise an iPad or iPhone over a bin of fruit and take a photo.
NZ agritech company Hectre and its Spectre app are delivering fruit size and colour data to US packers and growers earlier than ever before.
Having faced the same issue for many years, fruit packers and growers have been unable to gain early access to quick and accurate fruit size and colour information at harvest time. It was finding a solution to this type of problem that led NZ entrepreneur Matty Blomfield to co-found Hectre in 2016 and launch Spectre for Apples in 2020.
Spectre is a computer vision AI solution, developed as part of the Hectre app on iPhone and iPad. It sees fruit such as apples just like the human eye would see them. Using proprietary technology, Hectre has taught the computer how to detect pieces of fruit, how to size those pieces of fruit, and for apples, to assess the colour.
Growers can use Spectre in their orchards as soon as the fruit is picked, gaining early size data, which they can share with their packhouses to inform sales plans.
“For fruit packhouses, huge value is gained with Spectre, with quick and easy capture of size data and colour estimation reducing the incidence and negative impacts of incorrect storage, packing line resets, and wasted labour and fruit,” Blomfield explains.
He adds that with a commitment to “clever simplicity”, the Spectre technology is easy to use, requiring users to only stand and raise an iPad or iPhone over a bin of fruit and take a photo. Within seconds, fruit size distribution graphs are served up, delivering massive increases in sample sizes, without the need for more expensive equipment.
Fruit growers and packers across 11 countries are now using Hectre’s orchard technologies, including First Fresh NZ, Rockit, BC Tree Fruits and fruit leaders Washington Fruit & Produce.
“The more we know about the size profile of a particular grower’s crop in advance of it being brought into the packhouse, the better we can plan our sales programs,” says Ian Albers, managing director First Fresh NZ.
Spectre currently sizes apples, oranges, lemons, and mandarins; while in response to demand from the cherry industry, a Spectre for Cherries pilot is now underway with cherry packers in Washington state.
While feeding dairy animals in New Zealand is largely centred around feed trailers, mixer wagons or baleage, one wonders whether there is a place for robotic feeders, particularly in South Island locations, where cows are housed during winter or full time.
Founded in Germany as recently as 1977, today, the Fliegl Group employs more than 1100 workers, offering an expansive range of transport solutions, from their base in Bavaria.
Case IH is expanding its popular Puma range in New Zealand, with a new model that was released at Fieldays.
It seems that tractor manufacturers will go to great efforts to promote the versatility and durability of their offerings, a recent example being a Massey Ferguson with an 8S tractor entered into the Morocco Desert Challenge.
As if there wasn’t enough choice in the New Zealand ute market, LDV New Zealand is expanding its offering, by showcasing the all-new Terron 9 Elite at Fieldays.
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…
