Inria's Frost Forecast project in the Diario Financiero

On March 9th, in the DF Lab section of Diario Financiero, the Frost Forecast project, promoted by Inria Chile in collaboration with AIO project-team from the Inria of Paris, was highlighted. The project aims, through the use of artificial intelligence, to prevent frost damage in agricultural plantations and mitigate its impact on production and consumers' pockets.

In its pilot stage, the solution is being implemented at “El Triángulo” state of Viña Concha y Toro in Casablanca, as well as in a cherry plantation of the agrotech company Agroprime. Frost Forecast monitors the climate of a specific area through temperature and humidity sensors. With the collected data, a forecasting engine is generated, enabling timely actions to prevent damages.

Nayat Sánchez-Pi, CEO of Inria Chile, explained to the media that this will allow for “a better triangulation of climate data for each sector”. She added that the collected information is compared with data from local stations within the global climate system, and the Artificial Intelligence generates alerts in case of a probability of future frost events in each specific plantation. "Elements such as temperature and humidity can vary greatly in small areas, so it is not possible to provide solutions for each producer with existing measurements," she emphasized. This problem is not new in Chile and annually causes significant losses in the agricultural sector.