Citri&Co to roll out the Dubai-based startup’s AI platform across global farms following successful pilot in Peru
Citri&Co is to roll out a pioneering AI-powered agronomic intelligence platform developed by agtech startup Orth across its global farming operations.
The announcement follows a successful pilot at Citri&Co’s Peruvian subsidiary, Safresco, where the company said the platform demonstrated significant value in supporting agronomic teams and strengthening how they plan, analyse and act.
“Agronomic expertise has always been one of our greatest strengths, but its impact depends on how precisely we apply it – field by field, season by season, decision by decision,” said Carlos Blanc, CEO of Citri&Co.
“Orth gives our teams far more insight than ever before, from field conditions to historical performance, and helps them turn it into timely, targeted action. It lets us apply our agronomy with a level of precision that simply wasn’t possible before — and take what we learn on one farm to every farm we operate.”
Citri&Co has more than 33,000ha of farms producing over 1mn tonnes of fresh fruit each year, which is supplied to more than 70 countries worldwide.
Orth’s platform combines signals from the field, the memory of previous seasons and operations, and agronomic judgment in one place. It connects what is happening in the present with what has happened in the past to support agronomic teams in the decision-making process.
“Agriculture holds an extraordinary amount of knowledge, but too much of it has remained difficult to access at the moment of decision,” said Hassan Fayed, Orth’s founder & CEO. “Orth makes that knowledge usable. With Citri&Co, we are bringing this capability into a global fruit business where stronger decisions can have an impact across countries, crops and seasons.”
According to Orth, its platform enables Citri&Co’s teams to capture and analyse more information, recognise emerging issues earlier and act with greater precision and timeliness.
“Knowledge that once depended on an individual’s availability or time spent piecing together records becomes accessible when and where it is needed. Agronomists and managers can devote more of their expertise to improving crop performance,” the company stated.
“The implications reach beyond individual farms. Better decisions about water, nutrients and crop protection can improve resource efficiency, protect fruit quality and reduce avoidable losses. For a business supplying fresh fruit across international markets, these improvements support a more reliable supply of nutritious food – connecting agricultural productivity directly to food and nutrition security.”
