ECOBLOOM: A FUTURE WHERE FARMING IS FUN
It all started with the idea of a smart indoor farming ecosystem for everyday individuals. Today Ecobloom empowers farmers of all levels to make data-driven and informed decisions throughout the entire growing process.
Ecobloom Technologies is a Stockholm-based company that develops machine learning and computer vision technologies that monitor and analyse plant development, health, and stress. “Ecobloom as a company was introduced to the world through crowdfunding, with our first product, the EcoGarden” says Robyn, Brand & Marketing Manager at Ecobloom. The idea was to empower people to grow their own fresh food in a more local, fun and interactive way.
YOU FEED THE FISH, THE FISH FEED THE PLANTS, THE PLANTS FEED YOU
As announced at the crowdfunding site, the EcoGarden is a combination of a smart miniature greenhouse and a self-cleaning aquarium. A smart ecosystem that is capable of growing a variety of fresh herbs and veggies all year round, without any prior knowledge. “Ecobloom started out providing a growing system for individuals” says Robyn “today our main focus goes directly to the source: large scale indoor farms, who feed more people and provide to our stores today.” EcoSense, the second Ecobloom’s product is behind the strategic change. EcoSense is an indoor farming sensor system and AI-based farm management software in the cloud launched with the aim of making farmers' lives easier and growing their businesses more profitable and low-risk."
A CUTTING-EDGE AGRICULTURAL SOLUTION
Farm data is sent directly to the cloud and analyzed using computer vision and machine learning. The insights generated are visualized on the user friendly dashboard, providing farmers with information to decide the best course of action. “The brand’s goals are to provide solutions adapted to the needs of the world's population by evolving farms and increase sustainability throughout the entire growing process” says Robyn, and she also adds a nice envision: “Using EcoSense, farming is more accesible and knowledge in the field is easily earned by the younger generations” pointing to probably one of the bigger challenges for the industry right now .
GROWING SMARTER
Like the systems they design, a business like Ecobloom must control the growth of the company. So, during the early stages of the startup they have been a part of the EIT Food Accelerator Network (FAN) in Bilbao where they learned valuable skills and insights at this early stage of their journey. Although the company have pivoted and now have a B2B focus, “everything we gained from EIT Food remains relevant, this in the long run has also allowed us to grow our network.” Results so far are very promising for the company. Thanks to EcoSense, they have helped indoor farmers reduce their energy costs, prevent tip burning, increase the number of growth cycles and yield, create ventilation strategies and identify specific areas in farms that have inefficiencies for growing crops.
EVOLUTION
The team behind Ecobloom believes there's always room for innovation and growth, both in technology and people. They are also committed to continuous learning and adapting to meet the changing needs of the world. As Robyn finishes: “EcoSense gets better over time, so we can expect it to improve and learn even more in the future. We also look forward to working with different types of crops where we have not yet used EcoSense and and with products that are grown indoors. Today, we see indoor farms not only for edible crops and ornamentals, but also for alternative proteins like insects and mushrooms, among others.”
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