‘PotatoSize’: An easier way of estimating potato crop size distribution

As the third most important global food crop, potatoes are grown for many different markets. It is fundamental for farmers to know when to halt crop growth to achieve optimal tuber size for market and so maximize profits. Until now, standard practice has been to grade a sample of tubers through multiple sieves, counting the number within size ranges, which is time consuming and expensive. Enter PotatoSize™, a new mobile app developed by the James Hutton Institute and Agrovista, which seeks to provide a cheap and rapid solution for farmers to count and measure a crop sample by using cutting-edge image analysis techniques. The app’s all-in-one system allows users to prepare a sample, take a photograph and send it for analysis along with details such as crop row width and sample weight. The image is analyzed, with potatoes identified and measured, and the user gets an estimate of potato size distribution in about two minutes, with greatly reduced cost and effort. More