California-based Ceres Imaging is rebranding as Ceres AI, following a Series D capital fund raise.

Ceres AI provides data and analytics to help growers, lenders and insurers reduce their farming risk and improve profitability. The new funding (amount not disclosed) will be used domestically and internationally.

In a news release, the company stated the Ceres AI brand highlights its decade of experience with artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and machine learning, and its use of these technologies to help participants in the agricultural industry access quality data to make faster, more accurate decisions.

“We use a combination of aerial imaging and sensors, underpinned by a proprietary database of 12 billion plant-level measurements captured across 32 million acres and more than 40 key crop types,” says Ramsey Masri, CEO of Ceres AI, in a blog post on the company’s website. “This means we can analyze to a precise degree key crop characteristics such as nutrient levels, transpiration, chlorophyll and water stress. Our analytics give farmers precise data, including near-real-time information on field health conditions and instant recommendations on per-plant interventions to protect yield (and, ultimately, profitability).”

Masri said he believes the entire agricultural ecosystem can be streamlined with AI-powered data analytics. In March, the company launched Portfolio Insights, a new AI-enabled product suite that empowers teams with the data they need to simplify agricultural management. The new suite of tools offers ag land investors, lenders, growers and crop insurers an easy way to collect, analyze, and visualize their entire portfolio of farmland data to make better and faster decisions.

Accurate damage assessment is one example of how this technology can be applied. Masri explains: “When a major hailstorm rolled through Minnesota last year, our platform was used to quickly and precisely measure the impact of the hail damage. It provided detailed sampling plans that accurately reflected the effects on crop condition and health across hundreds of acres. And it gave the farmer’s insurer a clear picture to assess and act on an eventual claim.”

Pre-empting irrigation issues is another example of what AI-powered technology can do for farmers, says Masri. “The average grower will experience up to 200 irrigation issues over the course of a growing season. While in the past they had to send workers out to try to catch these issues, our technology detects issues before they are visually apparent and before they impact yield.”

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