Fruit cultivation is an important economic factor for rural areas. However, as the demands surrounding environmental protection, food quality, and sustainability are increasing, while acreages, fossil resources, and, above all, skilled workers are limited, the industry is facing ever greater challenges. Fraunhofer aims to meet these challenges by developing smart farming technologies. This refers to the use of digital solutions and automated processes in agriculture, using sensors or autonomous vehicles, for example. 
With the help of artificial intelligence, multi-, and hyperspectral cameras detect the first symptoms of diseases or pests on strawberry plants. It is a smart farming solution developed by the Fraunhofer Institutes IGD and IGP.
Karls is one of the largest fruit growers in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and an important employer in the region. In cooperation with Karls, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD and the Fraunhofer Institute for Large Structures in Production Engineering IGP are developing various smart farming technologies to safeguard strawberry cultivation in the region for years to come.
Prototypes of the developments are already being used in this year's strawberry season. "At Fraunhofer, our research is practice-oriented, which means that it is always geared to the very specific needs of those who will later work with our developments. For us, both the concrete input of our practice partners and the question of how we can meaningfully transfer the findings from science into practice play a major role," explains Dr. Philipp Wree, department head at Fraunhofer IGD. The technologies developed and tested for strawberries can also be profitably used in other fruit and horticultural businesses or other agricultural sectors.
Smart technology for strawberries: from Frigo seedlings to outdoor berries
The planting of Frigo seedlings, i.e., frozen young plants with root balls, has so far been a purely manual task: dig a hole, insert the plant, and compress the soil. This season, the first prototype of the Fraunhofer IGP already assisted with the planting of a complete foil tent: planting boxes filled with substrate were pushed under the workstation, and eight drilling spirals dug the holes.
Although the seedlings had to be inserted by hand, the special shape of the drills eliminated the need to press the soil down manually. This meant that planting time could be cut in half, even at this initial stage of development. In addition to the enormous time savings, an increase in quality is another advantage of the automated process, which is achieved through the identical spacing between the plants, uniform depths, and an even substrate density. In the future, the planting robot will take over all the work steps that would otherwise be done by hand when planting the strawberry seedlings in the tiers.
Once the seedlings have arrived in the foil tunnel, the task is to continuously check them for pests or diseases. Fraunhofer IGP's measurement technology and Fraunhofer IGD's expertise in visual computing, i.e., image-based informatics, are used for this purpose. AI-based software detects the first symptoms of fungal diseases such as phytophthora and powdery mildew or damage caused by caterpillars feeding on images from special multi- and hyperspectral cameras even before they are visible to the human eye. This way, infected plants can be treated before widespread spread occurs.
When strawberries are planted outdoors, they are exposed to weather conditions without protection. The larger the cultivated area, the more difficult it is for operators to monitor it and initiate site-specific measures such as irrigation or fertilization. Fraunhofer IGD is currently testing a large-scale sensor network for recording soil and air parameters based on Mioty® wireless technology on Karls' land together with the start-up Agvolution. Mioty was originally developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS for use in industrial infrastructures and enabled data transmission over several kilometers with very low energy consumption. In agriculture, it can thus be used for long-range recording of the microclimate. One concrete application scenario based on this technology would be a real-time frost warning, for example.
"The collaboration between Karls and the Fraunhofer Institutes IGD and IGP is bearing fruit in our case in the truest sense of the word," says Thomas Hahmann, project manager at Karls Strawberry Farm. "Innovative spirit, flexibility, and speed in implementing new ideas and approaches to solutions are outstanding features that characterize this partnership. The meaningful linking of theory and practice are particularly noteworthy here."
Focused expertise: networking in the state and nationwide
The research teams are working closely with farmers in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, whose ideas and feedback provide valuable input for further developments. Fraunhofer is part of a very strong infrastructure in the field of agricultural research. This includes the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Rostock, the University of Greifswald, which does a lot of work on peatlands and peatland protection, the Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology in Dummerstorf, the experimental farms in Tellow and Dummerstorf, the Julius Kühn Institute for Cultivated Plants, the universities of Neubrandenburg and Stralsund, and the state experimental stations. Fraunhofer is connected to all these players and tries to translate scientific findings into concrete solutions.
The two Rostock institutes, Fraunhofer IGP and Fraunhofer IGD are part of the overarching Fraunhofer Initiative for Biogenic Value Creation and Smart Farming. In association with three Fraunhofer institutes from Bavaria, the research teams work on application-oriented research in all areas of food and agriculture, such as plant cultivation, animal husbandry, or the use of moorland. The interdisciplinary teams are bringing in extensive expertise from the fields of robotics and automation, sensors, analytics, actuators, AI, and Big Data, as well as design, production, and process engineering. Their goal is to develop new technologies for sustainable production and processing of agricultural products: from seed to refined product. With highly customized, automated, and sustainable technologies, the initiative contributes to the long-term security and sustainability of regional agriculture and food production. The financial requirements for the initiative are being met with €40 million from the Federal Ministry of Research and €20 million each from the science ministries of the German states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Bavaria.
For more information: www.igd.fraunhofer.de