McCain Foods is launching Presia Ag Insights, a newly formed business unit wholly owned by McCain, a Nov. 28 news release. Presia will allow farmers and crop-sourcing partners to better evaluate and predict crop yields, optimize harvest timing and enhance on-farm sustainability practices.
“Specializing in satellite-based, data-driven intelligence that can transform the way we understand crop growth, Presia will accelerate the future of farming and foster the monitoring and adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by stakeholders across the agriculture sector,” the release said.
Presia is the evolution of McCain’s acquisition of the predictive crop portfolio from Resson in 2022, the release noted. The portfolio included vision-intelligence-based technologies that better leverage field data and satellite imagery to assess more accurately the status of a potato crop. The Resson team joined McCain in June 2022 and over the past year Resson evolved to become Presia.
“Launching Presia advances McCain’s innovative agriculture agenda, providing an opportunity to build off the expertise we have developed in potatoes to offer leading capabilities to other food businesses and farmers,” Peter Dawe, chief growth and strategy officer at McCain Foods, said in the release. “It is driving data intelligence that is helping us change the way we grow a potato.”Â
Based in Ontario and Eastern Canada, the Presia team is comprised primarily of data scientists and software developers, with nearly a decade of experience working with crop-monitoring technologies on potatoes, the release said.
“Presia supports our farmer and crop-sourcing partners in building resiliency within their operations and strengthening decision-making capabilities through the use of satellite imaging and machine learning,” Tyler Hennick, managing director of Presia, said in the release. “We are proud to offer existing and new customers more frequent and accurate readings on their in-season crop performance within and across entire fields and regions.”
The release noted while the focus is currently on potatoes, Presia’s data and models could be expanded to other crops in the future.Â
Related Articles
McCain Buys Predictive Crop Intelligence Product from Resson