Innovation at the Agave Fields Using Smart Agriculture

por Elizabeth Hernández Elizabeth Hernández | Dec 25, 2021 4:57:27 PM

innovation in agriculture drones at casa sauza fields

Agriculture is our biggest source of food and it is also the best tool we have to fight against poverty. Today more than ever, in Casa Sauza we work together to overcome the challenges we face regarding technological innovation with the concept of "Field Innovation with Smart Agriculture".

Tequila Industry Challenges

The principal challenges that we face as an industry are:

  • PRODUCTIVITY: The annual increase of agricultural productivity has decreased from 3.5% to 1% in the last 50 years.
  • WORKFORCE: Every day that goes by, fewer persons are interested in working in the fields/countryside.
  • GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE: The impacts in climate change and natural factors, have been a threat to all the industry settlements. A clear example of this is that 2016 was the hottest year registered in our industry.

In Casa Sauza, we have developed and implemented strategies not only for minimizing the risks impact listed above, but also to reinforce our processes and align our Company to the cycles of Continous Improvement and Innovation, which are part of our working culture since 140 years ago.

Knowing more and better our agave fields, improving our operational methods to assure a consistency in our work platforms and in our processes, creating safe and healthy work atmospheres for our employees indoors or outdoors and above all, having a deep respect for the environment are all the different activities that we pursuit to achieve on a daily basis. Doing so, we demonstrate congruence between our Casa Sauza strategies, vision and mission.
This year we are implementing an innovative solution that we are sure will be the beginning of a newer and better method to cultivate our agaves. We have called it "SMART AGRICULTURE".


What is Smart Agriculture?


Smart Agriculture is a solution based on not manned aerial vehicles (DRONES) with smart cameras specialized in obtaining detailed information regarding our agave plantations.

All the generated information it's processed and analyzed aiming to build a new and better knowledge of our agave plantations.

Benefits of Smart Agriculture


We have started working together with CNX and Microsoft, so that through their platform Manglar , we could take advantage of all the Big Data and Artificial Intelligence benefits.

Working with them, we will become more involved using these new tools and applying them in our agricutural processes with the purpose of incrementing Casa Sauza's abilities and skills, such as the following ones:

  • Exploration: Increasing our agronomical analysis teams, precision, and frequency.
  • Measurement: Quantifying the agave fields, we identify the populated and unpopulated areas, and we also calculate heights surrounding the field and bio-matter.
  • Prediction: We measure the production and estimate the impact generated by external agents or natural disasters.
  • Audit: Controlling the different processes executed in the agave fields, we can evaluate the physical state of the equipment we use.
  • Diagnosis: Analyzing the photosynthetic activity, health, and condition of our agave plants. By doing so, we can generate solution plans, prescriptions and sanitary programs if necessary.
  • Integration: This way, we can add other sources information to adjust our prescription and prediction models.

What are the benefits of Smart Agriculture?

With this new technology,  we would generate important benefits such as:

  • Reduction of exploration costs
  • Optimization of cultivated areas
  • Productivity prediction
  • Audits in field processes
  • Optimization in agrochemicals application
  • Administration and control of risks related to plagues, pests, and diseases
  • Optimization of land use.
  •  A consolidated vision of the agave plantation.

In Casa Sauza, we are proud of being part of a history and an ancient tradition that commits and inspire us to be the best producers we can. We believe in the talent of our employees, leading others by example and creating the best processes to position ourselves as the best tequila industry in the market, being worldwide referents of Creativity, Quality and Innovation.


In Casa Sauza, our love and passion for the Mexican agave fields, its a reflection of our love for our country, knowing that tequila is nowadays a potent symbol of Mexican national identity around the world.

Thank you for reading this, we invite to explore other articles in Casa Sauza's blog like:

Innovation in Tequila Production: Monozukuri Philosophy

Automation Process of Agricultural Work

 

Come and visit Casa Sauza so you can learn how the modernization of our production processes deliver the purest tequila that you will find in the market.

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