AWS Pioneers Project

European innovation, told by those who built it

xFarm uses AI to protect farmers crops

Farming is facing mounting challenges – from unpredictable weather in the form of flooding or intense drought, to the rising cost of materials such as fertiliser and seeds – it is a business operating on the tightest of margins.

“We know the struggles that they have, and where we see the value is to give easy solutions to the farmers that can help them to make better decisions,” he said.

He created xFarm Technologies, an app which gives farmers access to tools that manage everything from irrigation to pest control, which is now used by more than 500,000 farms across more than 100 countries, spanning over seven million hectares.

Matteo Vanotti knows the issues farmers face. This year his family-run farm on the Swiss-Italian border lost a third of the crops it was growing.

Meet Matteo Vanotti

CEO, xFarm Technologies

Scaling rapidly

AWS was crucial to the app’s development. “With AWS, we’ve been able to scale rapidly and store and process massive amounts of agricultural data securely – from satellite imagery to crop health monitoring – all whilst maintaining strict compliance with European data standards. This allows us to prototype, test and launch new tools quickly to enable farmers to make critical decisions in real time,” he says.

Vanotti had worked in the fintech industry for 10 years so understands the power of technology, but when he turned to software in 2014 to help on his own farm, he did not find it easy to use. “It was complex. It was not adapted to the needs of the European farmer and so I decided to create technology that was easier for farmers to use.”

Farmer-led

The key to xFarm is for it to be “farmer-led”. “We started with a single application for the farmer to manage their own business – what I’m doing and where on my field. Then we started adding more services, using technology such as sensors and satellite data to give suggestions about how much water to use, when the plants needed to be protected, potential products to help with that, and so on.” The app is free to use, with farmers able to upgrade over time, based on their needs. “They can upgrade in a modular way,” said Vanotti.

“What a grape farmer in Italy needs is different from a corn producer in Germany.”

The next stage will see the firm targeting farmers in other countries, such as Brazil and India, as well as looking to incorporate others in the supply chain, from the food industry to farm machinery manufacturers.

Tracking insects

AI is already playing a vital role. The firm is also introducing AI from AWS to help spot crop disease and farm sustainably. “The farmer snaps a photo and then our computer vision system can suggest what might be the probable disease. But the journey doesn’t stop there. They can also use it to find ways to control it,” explains Vanotti.

“The most interesting part is that the farmer can also start to use our predictive AI models, so that next time they will be alerted a week before there is development of this disease, using sensors in the field and satellite data.”

Another interesting use of AI is to track the insects that visit a farm. “We build a small box and use pheromones to attract the insects. The insects go inside, we take a photo and the AI is trained to understand the number and type of insects there are. It can then use this information to make a prediction of what insects may come in the next two weeks, so farmers can protect their fields.”

The AI tool is also helping interpret satellite data, understanding the crops that farmers currently cultivate and offering suggestions about how to farm more sustainably. Looking to the future, Vanotti hopes to expand xFarm’s reach beyond Europe, especially in regions facing significant climate challenges, to build a resilient network of farms capable of addressing climate change. "By collaborating with AWS, we will continue to scale our platform to promote a more sustainable agricultural future. Together, we hope to build a world where nutritious and accessible food is available to all."