Intelinair turns data into field insights all season long

Intelinair is a data analytics company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, whose goal is transforming data into season-long actionable alerts for farmers at the field level. Intelinair does this by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to model crop performance and identify problems enabling commercial growers to make improved decisions. 

The company’s flagship product, AGMRI, aggregates and analyzes data, including high-resolution aerial, satellite, and drone imagery, farm equipment, weather, scouting, and more to deliver actionable alerts on specific problems as push notifications to farmers’ smartphones. 

“We use different layers of data: weather, thermal, soil and topography, machine data coming directly from the farmer, and imagery from fixed-wing airplanes, satellites, and drones,” explains Tim Hassinger, Intelinair CEO and president. “We run that against the algorithms that we have. The ultimate output notifies the farmer when there's an emergence issue in the field and where it's at, or if there's a crop health concern. They can see crop stress and determine if it is a disease.”

AGMRI Insights monitors and tracks in-season agronomic insights for emergence, weeds, crop health, and variable drydown. “As the crop really gets growing in mid-season, and with the thermal imaging, we can detect where disease is setting in and then be able to apply a fungicide before there's yield damage from the disease,” explains Kevin Kreig, director of business development. “We also identify any areas of the field that are nutrient-deficient and can alert the farmer.”

“One of the strengths of Intelinair is data visualization — to take a lot of complex data and show it in a simple way so that people can understand and, more importantly, know what to do as a result,” says Hassinger.

Brian Rinderer and his family farm over 20,000 acres in southern Illinois and has used AGMRI for the past two seasons. Rinderer has been impressed with how it has helped in season management as well as harvest planning. “The scouting app found weed escapes in some large fields in time for respray that we would have missed otherwise,” Rinderer said. “If you’re farming in multiple areas, this gives a definite idea of where to focus scouting.” 

2023 was a dry season in southern Illinois and was the first time Rinderer used the harvest projections, and he was at first skeptical that the numbers were accurate. “I didn’t believe we had the corn bushels they told me we had, but they were within 2% or 3% of what we harvested,” he says. “That will help me with future grain marketing and harvest logistics and I will definitely be utilizing the yield forecast for the 2024 crop season.” 

New for 2024, AGMRI Analyze monitors nine common yield-limiting factors, enabling farmers to pinpoint and understand potential issues during the season. This helps farmers make informed decisions for an upcoming crop season, ultimately contributing to improved efficiency and yield potential.

“We can couple in-season data with the machine, weather, and soil data and give insight into what factors affected yield at the end of the year,” says Krieg. 

Kreig explains how the data can be used to make future management decisions. “You might have a hybrid that didn't yield very well, but it had a high yield per thousand plants emerged. So, then you can look at the planting rate. Should I increase the planting rate on that hybrid? Or conversely, do I need to back it down a little bit? This analysis allows us to adjust for the next year.”

For Rinderer, the value of AGMRI comes from the service he has received. “Intelinair not only provides the data, but they help me understand how to use it,” he says. “If I had the platform without their training on how to use it, it would not be nearly as valuable. They help me understand what I’m looking at.”

For more information on Intelinair AGMRI Insights and Analyze, visit intelinair.com/agmri/.