Booth Ranches Tests New Estimate Methods With Agerpoint For More Accurate Yield Prediction
“Agerpoint’s ability to quickly and accurately provide canopy volume data could become integral to a number of our projects moving forward”
CHALLENGE
The challenge was to accurately and efficiently be able to calculate the canopy volume of the tree. Booth turned to Agerpoint.
Booth Ranches is developing a method to predict yield. The goal is to increase accuracy; while reducing the labor required to gather and ground truth the required data for the 2017 season.
The method involved using aluminum cubes, built to a specific dimension. Workers push the cube into randomly selected sections of randomly selected trees and then count fruit that is inside the cube. The hand measured canopy volume of the tree along with the piece count within the cube is then used to make an estimation of yield for the tree.
SOLUTION
Using Agerpoint’s technology, Booth Ranches scanned 100% of their grove as opposed to only a sample.
Agerpoint uses high precision LiDAR to generate a detailed, 3-dimensional map of the entire grove including height, canopy diameter, trunk diameter, canopy density, and canopy volume.
Using Agerpoint’s web-based portal, Booth Ranches looked up the volume for each tree they sampled and combined the data with the hand count samples they gathered.
RESULTS
Booth Ranches improved their yield prediction accuracy by 6%
Using their standard yield estimation methods, Booth Ranches’ 2017 yield was off by 11%. However, using the combined hand counts and volume data provided by Agerpoint they improved that number by predicting yield within 5% of actual for the same crop.
“Agerpoint’s ability to quickly and accurately provide canopy volume data could become integral to a number of our projects moving forward,” says Jared Plumlee of Booth Ranches. He continued with “the ability to cost effectively obtain the metrics Agerpoint provides allowed us to make better strategic decisions for our orchards.”
