CropLife IRON 2023 Product of the Year: A Stark Raven Winner!
December 19, 2023 
The trophy hand-off at the 2023 ARA show. From left: CropLife IRON’s Eric Sfiligoj, Raven’s Ben Voss, and CropLife’s Sal Settecase.
Ask anyone in the agricultural marketplace the one trend that seemed to dominate the industry during 2023 and chances are good they would respond with a single word: Technology. Given this fact, it will probably come as no surprise that the CropLife IRON Product of the Year for 2023 was an item from the ag technology sector: The Sense & Act from Raven Industries/Augmenta.
At the 2023 Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) Annual Meeting and Conference in Orlando, FL, representatives from Raven Industries were on hand to accept the coveted “Big I” trophy. “We are really proud to receive this award on behalf of Raven and our partners at Augmenta,” said Ben Voss, Director of Sales at Raven Industries, receiving the award from CropLife IRON Editor Eric Sfiligoj. “We thank the readers of CropLife IRON and are humbled by this honor.”
A High-Tech Unit
Sense & Act uses camera imaging and artificial intelligence technologies to both detect a specific crop-health issue in the field and address it in real time.
In operation, Sense & Act uses camera imaging and artificial intelligence technologies to both detect a specific crop-health issue in the field and address it in real time. The unit uses a multispectral camera to analyze real-time field conditions and apply, where needed, products such as nitrogen, plant growth regulators, harvest aids (defoliants and desiccants), and fungicides. The camera is installed onto a single point on top of a cab roof and scans the full width of the boom. It can be mounted to multiple brands of equipment, whether it be a sprayer or a tractor pulling an application implement.
“There’s the hardware component, which is a multispectral camera. But the real power behind it is Augmenta’s artificial intelligence and algorithms,” said Voss. “It gives Sense & Act the capability to scan and interpret what the crop health is out in front of that machine.” In addition, he added, Sense & Act technology enables spot spraying using onboard sensors, calculations, and control with the system being aided by AI capabilities.
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