A novel vision system with unique algorithms to recognise, count & size apples on trees to greatly improve crop forecasting and management to maximise yield and optimise market price - Applecount -

The UK is not self sufficient in apples, even during the high season, providing only one third
of our own consumption, with the shortfall made up by imports. A large proportion of this is
due to our inability to meet demand for class1 fruit – the stringent specification set by
supermarkets, representing 80% of sales. Our client records show that similar orchards can
have outputs that vary by over 60% on the same cultivars, both on the overall tonnage yield
per hectare, and on the percentage of substandard fruit, with reject fruit going to waste or low
value processing and losing up to 80% of its value. A significant proportion of this variation is
down to management practice and crop forecasting.
The market price is dependent on crop quality and the crop yield declared by the growers and
wholesalers, and these estimates tend to be inaccurate with a variation of typically +/- 20%
from final yield. This has a major impact on market price. Quotas are agreed with the
supermarkets early in the season, and must be fulfilled. Over-estimating yield means
purchasing imports (at late in season high prices) to cover the shortfall, while underestimating
yield, means losing profits by selling excess crop to low value outlets or even for
pigfeed. A key part of management practice is to know when and how to ‘thin’ crops to
promote selective growth, and this is very dependent on knowing accurately how many apples
there are on each tree at various times in the growing season.
Our client who represents one third of UK growers, believes that by standardising bestpractice
orchard management, and with a strategic approach to helping breed new cultivars,
we could enable UK orchards to take back at least 100,000T of lost import volume, worth
£50M.
This project aims to create & prove the effectiveness of a novel vision based crop
measurement technology for apple growers, capable of measuring apples while on the trees.