Scoutlabs: smarter pest control, smarter farms

Pest invasion is a major concern for producers with 20–40% of global crop production lost to pests every year (1). Climate change is further exacerbating the issue by accelerating insect lifecycles and creating unpredictable population numbers and increasing their damage potential. For each 1°C increase in temperature, crop yield losses due to insect pests are projected to rise by approximately 10–25%. (2)

Traditional pest control involves sending out ‘scouts’ to check traps, correctly identify pests and respond accordingly – where it can be a race against the clock to save the annual crop. At $100 per trap per growing season, the cost quickly adds up, something that Scoutlabs CEO and Co-founder Donát Posta knows only too well, having grown up on a family farm using manual traps to monitor pests like the European corn borer.

After seeing the impact of this labour-intensive process and lack of quality data, Donát recognised the need for innovation. He created Scoutlabs in 2022 with the vision of transforming pest control through digitisation and AI, forming a team of entomologists, agronomists, engineers, and data scientists to create an affordable, precise pest detection system.

Insects stick to adhesive paper within the trap, they are identified with AI, then farmers are notified. Scoutlabs entomologists regularly review the AI-powered insect identification, so as well providing precise pest pressure alerts direct to the farmer, the data gathered by the scoutlab network assists in pest monitoring across the region. This data can be used to better understand the impact the changing climate on insect numbers and behaviours.

For farm owners they can target pesticide use to fields that really need it, rather than apply blanket use. This preserves beneficial insects, prevents pesticide resistance and protects the environment by reducing pesticide leaching into soil and groundwater. While farmers save on money through reduced pesticide use, the bigger saving comes in scout labour, since the traps are in a digitally autonomous system that can monitored remotely.

Scoutlabs joined the EIT Food Fast Track to Market initiative in 2024, receiving just under €400,000, to enable growth of the startup to multinational scale. (3)

The Scoutlabs traps and network have been effective in Hungary, UK and US agriculture. The digital traps have been used to monitor pests and mitigate the impact of European grapevine moths, navel orangeworms, and codling moths, among other pests. Scoutlabs aims to expand their US operations as well as enter key markets in France and Spain. They intend to scale their digital trap network, with a goal of deploying 50,000 traps in the upcoming years.

With their AI powered, cost-effective solution, Scoutlabs is helping farmers to operate in a resource-conscious way. In turn, that is contributing to a more sustainable and resilient food system and gathering data assets that promise to reshape the future of agriculture – one digital trap at a time.

1. National Institute of Food Agriculture USDA: "Researchers helping protect crops from pests"
2. Shrestha, S. “Effects of Climate Change in Agricultural Insect Pest" Acta Scientific Agriculture (2019)
3. EIT Food: "EIT Food announces €900,000 to fund solutions which accelerate the commercialisation of agrifood products and services in Europe"