Synopsis: In this listicle, we discuss the top challenges faced by the seed industry across product development, R&D, innovation, seed production, and seed distribution. As we explore the challenges, we also uncover innovative solutions to address them.
Importance of Seed and Seed Market
The humble seed isn't just the genesis of agriculture; it's the very foundation of life itself. Every thriving farm, every plate of food, relies on the quality and resilience of seeds. The global seed industry, a cornerstone of global food security, valued at $58.8 billion in 2023, is projected to reach $83.3 billion by 2028, according to McKinsey. This growth is fueled by a rising population and its ever-increasing demand for food, putting immense pressure on agricultural production.
But amidst this huge opportunity, there are a host of challenges faced by seed companies. Climate change, escalating R&D costs, evolving pest resistance, and fragile supply chains are just a few of the complexities plaguing the seed industry.
However, for every obstacle, there's an opportunity for innovation. In this blog, we'll delve into ten key challenges faced by the seed industry and explore how Cropin, a cutting-edge agri-intelligence platform, empowers seed companies to not only weather these storms but thrive in the process.
Challenges Faced by the Seed Industry and Solutions
1. Impact of Climate Change on Seed Production:
Climate change increasingly disrupts seed production. Erratic weather patterns lead to reduced seed quality, heightened disease risk, and unpredictable harvests. Drought and heat waves, now more frequent, can accelerate crop development, increase seed dormancy, and significantly reduce germination rates and yield. This uncertainty is further compounded by delayed reporting and limited field data. Without early insights into seed production, reacting swiftly to unforeseen events or fluctuations in demand becomes difficult.
Cropin's Solution for Early Visibility:
Cropin empowers seed companies to gain a crucial head start with our advanced early visibility solution. We leverage various vegetation indices derived from satellite imagery. This data, along with proprietary crop knowledge graphs and weather data, is overlaid into our contextually trained deep-learning AI/ML models. It allows for the identification of precise growth patterns and continuous monitoring of crop health. This intelligence is particularly valuable for proactive interventions, such as those required during the critical bulking stage of potato seed production. Additionally, our algorithms provide the power to predict harvest dates and generate 45-day advanced yield forecasts, empowering informed decision-making throughout the entire seed production cycle.
2. Reducing Yield and Need to Expand Production:
Rising global temperatures are reshaping land suitability for crops, directly impacting seed production. Reliance on established seed production regions could expose your business to significant risks, as climate change can alter their productivity. To navigate this complexity, seed companies require the ability to identify alternative regions and strategically expand their contracting efforts. However, informed decision-making hinges on access to agri-intelligence across specific regions.
Cropin Sage for Geographic Expansion:
Cropin empowers seed companies with regional intelligence to identify potential areas for high-quality seed production, fostering diversification, cost reduction, and climate resilience. Cropin intelligence does not stop with crop suitability analysis; it takes you a step further with Cropin Sage. This real-time, gen-AI agri-intelligence platform powered by Google Gemini helps you decode the past, present, and future of crop yield.
3. Standardization of Operations Across Regions:
Seed companies manage production across diverse regions, often on different continents. Leaders at headquarters require real-time data across each region to make strategic decisions. Fragmented data will hold you back.
Cropin Cloud Offers Single Platform View:
With over 14 years of experience and multiple iterations, Cropin Cloud provides a single platform view of your entire global seed production operations. You can gain granular visibility across every field operation, from planting to harvesting. Cropin empowers you to standardize processes across your global operations while allowing for regional customizations. Seamless data management and streamlined workflows ensure your seed production thrives on a global scale.
4. Improve Accuracy of Yield Estimates:
Good seed production planning hinges on accurate yield estimates. However, sampling done by random selection results in unreliable estimations as it does not account for farm heterogeneity. With the inherent unpredictability in agriculture heightened by climate change, you need trustworthy data backed by science that goes beyond existing human error-prone practices.
Cropin's Smart Sampling Module to the Rescue:
Leveraging Advanced Vegetation Indices Cropin’s scientific Smart Sampling module powered by human and technology collaboration accounts for deviations within the farm. It enhances your current yield estimation forecasts by nearly 30-40%, providing a reliable foundation for business planning.
5. Absence of Real-Time Insights or Delays in Visibility of Field Operations:
In modern times, data is the most invaluable asset; however, its relevance diminishes as it ages. Seed companies often depend on data that is at least a week old for informed decision-making. This is because manually collated data must be processed for use, making traditional data collection costlier and impractical.
Cropin offers Near Real-time data with Remote Sensing:
Cropin Cloud utilizes remote sensing satellites, weather data, and advanced AI/ML models to provide real-time intelligence on crop health, growth progression, irrigation, yield estimation, and other parameters. In tunnels where satellite monitoring is impossible, Cropin’s AI/ML models can utilize weather data and IoT sensor information (where available) to predict crop growth progression and empower data-driven decision-making.
6. Crop Diseases:
Unforeseen crop diseases ever so often devastate production planning and seed availability.
Cropin's Disease Early Warning System (DEWS):
Cropin’s DEWS model predicts the probability of disease occurrence seven days in advance. It analyzes historical data, real-time weather forecasts, and environmental factors like humidity, temperature, wind speed, and more for this prediction. This knowledge empowers you to take proactive measures and minimize the impact of disease.
7. Optimization of Production Planning and Distribution:
Seed companies face the constant risk of over- or underproduction, which can result in wastage or missed market opportunities.
Holistic Approach with Cropin:
Cropin provides a comprehensive solution: seed demand forecasting with advanced analytics, improved yield estimation with smart sampling, and streamlined production management. This intelligence helps optimize production, reduce waste, and ensure efficient distribution, resulting in precision seed production and management.
8. Adoption of Best Practices, Farmer Education & Engagement:
Ensuring farmers follow the recommended Package of Practices (PoP) is crucial for producing high-quality seeds that are compliant with regulatory norms. This needs consistent 2-way communication with farmers.
Cropin Connect for Farmer Engagement:
Cropin Connect bridges the gap with a multilingual, multi-channel platform for efficient farmer engagement. You can easily configure notifications to provide timely updates on pests, reminders on PoPs, weather alerts, etc., on the Cropin Grow platform. Notifications can be sent through email, SMS, WhatsApp, or the mobile app.
9. Seed Compliance:
Ensuring seeds meet evolving regulations and maintaining traceability throughout the supply chain is crucial for consumer confidence.
Cropin's Solution:
Cropin’s dMRV (Digital Measurement Reporting and Verification) is a useful tool for validating compliance. It establishes clear traceability that buyers can verify, fosters transparency, and controls counterfeiting.
10. Data Integration from Diverse Sources:
Considering the complex nature of the supply chain, multiple tools track various parameters. You can gain clear visibility only when all these are integrated on a single platform.
The Power of Cropin Data Hub:
Cropin Cloud seamlessly connects your data ecosystem. Farm apps, ERPs, in-house tools, you name it; Cropin Data Hub integrates these for a single source of truth that can be further used to derive intelligence. You can gain complete visibility and traceability across every seed production step, from inventory to harvest.
Cultivate Success with Cropin
Cropin goes beyond just data; it's a comprehensive platform empowering seed companies to navigate the ever-evolving agricultural landscape. With Cropin, you can overcome challenges, optimize operations, and deliver high-quality seeds for a more sustainable and food-secure future.
