With the help of an integrated artificial intelligence (AI), the app already recognises the cercospora infestation of plants via photos and uses an algorithm to predict how the disease will develop within the next 14 days. This visual recognition is now being further specified through a cooperation with Südzucker AG and its affiliated companies in France (SLS), Poland (SZ Polska), Moldova (SZ Moldova) and some working groups of the corresponding national associations of sugar beet growers, in order to make even more precise statements about the intensity of the infestation. To this end, pictures of individual sugar beet leaves were taken throughout Europe this year over the entire monitoring period and given a rating. All those involved assume that this digital tool will be able to make an efficient contribution to controlling leaf diseases in the future.
With BeetControl, farmers are independent in the field and can get an answer to the condition of the beet at any time. Push messages can also be received if the threshold value has been exceeded in the immediate vicinity of the user in another farmer's field. The smartphone app is a digital alternative for the traditional leaf plucking method and will also provide reliable forecasts on the development of the disease over the next 14 days by offsetting weather forecast data.
BeetControl is already being further developed and will soon diagnose other leaf diseases, such as Powdery Mildew, Rust and Ramularia.
