When French classmates Guillaume Jourdain, Hugo Serrat and Jules Beguerie were looking at applying AI to agriculture in 2014 to form a startup, it was hardly a sure bet.
It was early days for such AI applications, and people said it couldn't be done. But farmers they spoke with wanted it.
So they rigged together a crude demo to show that a GeForce GPU could run a weed-identification network with a camera. And next thing you know, they had their first customer-investor.
In 2016, the former dorm-mates at cole Nationale Sup rieure d'Arts et M tiers, in Paris, founded Bilberry. The company today develops weed recognition powered by the NVIDIA Jetson edge AI platform for precision application of herbicides at corn and wheat farms, offering as much as a 92 percent reduction in herbicide usage.
Driven by advances in AI and pressures on farmers to reduce their use of herbicides, weed recognition is starting to see its day in the sun. A bumper crop of AI agriculture companies - FarmWise, SeeTree, Smart Ag and John Deere-owned Blue River - is plowing this field.
Farm Tech 2.0 Early agriculture tech was just scratching the surface of what is possible. Applying infrared, it focused on the green on brown problem, in which herbicides were applied uniformly to plants - crops and weeds - versus dirt, blasting all plants, said Serrat, the company's CTO.
Today, the sustainability race is on to treat green on green, or just the weeds near the crop, said Serrat.
Making the distinction between weeds and crops and act in real time accordingly - this is where everyone is fighting for - that's the actual holy grail, he said. To achieve this requires split-second inference in the field with NVIDIA GPUs running computer vision.
Losses in corn yields due to ineffective treatment of weeds can run roughly 15 percent to 20 percent, according to Bilberry.
The startup's customers for smart sprayers include agriculture equipment companies Agrifac, Goldacres, Dammann and Berthoud.
Cutting Back Chemicals Bilberry deploys its NVIDIA Jetson-powered weed recognition on tractor booms that can span a U.S. football field - about 160 feet. It runs 16 cameras on 16 Jetson TX2 modules and can analyze weeds at 17 frames per second for split-second herbicide squirts while traveling 15 miles per hour.
To achieve this blazing-fast inference performance for rapid recognition of weeds, Bilberry exploited the NVIDIA JetPack SDK for TensorRT optimizations of its algorithms. We push it to the limits, said Serrat.
Bilberry tapped into what's known as INT8 weight quantization, which enables more efficient application of deep learning models, particularly helpful for compact embedded systems in which memory and power restraints rule. This allowed them to harness 8-bit integers instead of floating-point numbers, and moving to integer math in place of floating-point helps reduce memory and computing usage as well as application latency.
Bilberry is a member of NVIDIA Inception, a virtual accelerator program that helps startups in AI and data science get to market faster.
Winners: Environment, Yields The startup's smart sprayers can now dramatically reduce herbicide usage by pinpointing treatments. That can make an enormous difference on the runoff of chemicals into the groundwater, the company says. It can also improve plant yields by reducing the friendly fire on crops.
You need to apply the right amount of herbicides to weeds - if you apply too little, the weed will keep growing and creating new seeds. Bilberry can do this at a rate of 242 acres per hour, with our biggest unit said Serrat.
The focus on agriculture chemical reduction comes as Europe tightens down on carbon cap limits affecting farmers and as consumers embrace organic foods. U.S. organic produce sales in 2020 increased 14 percent to $8.5 billion from a year ago, according to data from Nielsen.
Potato-Sorting Problem Bilberry recently launched a potato-sorting application in partnership with Downs. Potatoes are traditionally handled by sorting potatoes moving slowly across a conveyor belt. But it's difficult for food processors to get the labor, and the monotonous work is hard to stay focused on for hours, causing errors.
It's really boring - doing it all day, you become crazy, said Serrat. And it's seasonal, so when they need someone, it's now, and so they're always having problems getting enough labor.
This makes it a perfect task for AI. The startup trained its potato-sorting network to see bad potatoes, green potatoes, cut potatoes, rocks and dirt clods among the good spuds. And applying the Jetson Xavier to this vision task, the AI platform can send a signal to one of the doors at the end of the conveyor belt to only allow good potatoes to pass.
This is the part I love, to build software that handles something moving and has a real impact, he said.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
When French classmates Guillaume Jourdain, Hugo Serrat and Jules Beguerie were looking at applying AI to agriculture in 2014 to form a startup, it was hardly a sure bet.
