[ENG] From Precision Farming to Precision Pollination: When Pollination Becomes an Agronomic Data Point

Precision agriculture has changed the way farmers observe their fields.

Today, it is possible to collect information on water availability, crop nutrition, plant vigor, weather conditions and soil characteristics, transforming much of this information into maps and indicators that support decision-making.

However, there is one fundamental process for many crops that, until recently, was much more difficult to measure continuously: pollination.

Pollinators are present in the field, move between different areas, change their behavior according to environmental conditions and concentrate their activity at specific times of the day.

For farmers, therefore, it is not enough to know that "there are bees."

The real questions are:

Where is pollinator activity concentrated? When does it reach its highest levels? And which areas of the crop may be receiving less pollination?

This is where the concept of precision pollination comes into play.

Pollination is not uniform throughout the field

One of the most interesting aspects of pollination is its spatial variability.

In an orchard, a berry field or a protected cultivation system, not every plant necessarily receives the same level of pollinator activity.

The presence and movement of pollinators can be influenced by numerous factors:

• flower availability;

• presence of suitable habitats;

• location of hives;

• weather conditions;

• temperature;

• wind;

• availability of other nectar and pollen sources;

• crop characteristics;

• layout of the production area.

This means that a general observation of the field may not reveal important differences between one area and another.

Technology can instead transform this variability into measurable information.

From manual observation to continuous monitoring

Traditionally, pollinator monitoring has relied on direct observations and counts carried out by operators or technicians.

These methods remain important, particularly for research and validation activities, but they inevitably have limitations.

An observation carried out at a specific moment provides a snapshot of the situation.

An automated monitoring system, on the other hand, can continuously collect data, making it possible to observe how insect activity changes throughout the day and during the flowering period.

AgriSound has developed this capability through Polly, a field monitoring system that uses bioacoustic technology to detect and quantify pollinator activity. The devices also collect environmental data such as temperature, humidity and light levels, providing additional context for interpreting changes in insect activity.

The value is not the sensor: it is the data it produces

Installing a sensor does not automatically improve crop management.

The real value comes from the ability to transform collected data into information that can support decisions.

This is one of the fundamental principles of precision pollination.

For example, data can be used to identify areas where pollinator activity is lower than in other parts of the crop.

AgriSound describes this as one of the objectives of its platform: mapping pollinator activity and identifying areas that may require targeted interventions.

The process is therefore very similar to what has happened in other areas of precision agriculture:

observe → measure → interpret → intervene → verify.

From activity maps to agronomic decisions

Imagine a crop where a specific area shows significantly lower pollinator activity than the surrounding areas.

Without data, the farmer may never notice it.

With a monitoring system, however, this anomaly can become visible.

The next step is to understand why it is happening.

Is it related to hive location?

Microclimatic conditions?

Flower availability?

Habitat?

Crop layout?

Or a combination of several factors?

Technology does not replace the agronomist.

On the contrary, it provides the agronomist with new information, allowing them to formulate hypotheses and focus their field assessments on the areas that actually require attention.

A particularly interesting approach for berry crops

Berry crops represent one of the areas where precision pollination can be particularly valuable.

Pollination quality can influence important aspects of both yield and commercial quality.

In strawberries, for example, AgriSound has participated in research projects using bee activity monitoring to investigate the relationship between pollination, fruit quality and productivity.

More recently, in 2026, AgriSound announced the ADOPT Smart Pollination project with UK Berry Growers, focused on the use of smart pollination monitoring in the berry sector.

Interest in this area is therefore growing and points toward a possible evolution: considering pollination not simply as a natural process that is difficult to measure, but as a production component that can be monitored and managed through data.

Time is just as important as space

Precision pollination is not only about where.

It is also about when.

Pollinator activity varies throughout the day and can be influenced by environmental conditions.

Temperature, humidity and light levels can help explain why activity increases or decreases at certain times.

Monitoring these parameters simultaneously makes it possible to build a more complete picture of what is happening.

Polly, for example, combines acoustic monitoring of insect activity with local environmental data, making it possible to compare changes in pollinator activity over time with local conditions.

This opens up an interesting perspective: not only knowing how much pollinator activity is detected, but understanding which conditions encourage or limit pollination activity.

From hive management to pollination service management

In crops that rely on managed bees, monitoring can provide an additional layer of information.

Simply having hives near a crop does not necessarily guarantee uniform pollinator activity throughout the field.

The ability to observe the distribution and intensity of activity makes it possible to move from a strategy based solely on hive presence toward one focused on the performance of the pollination service.

This does not mean replacing the work of beekeepers or agronomic knowledge.

It means providing them with additional information to better understand what is happening during flowering.

When biodiversity and productivity can be measured together

One of the most interesting aspects of these technologies is that insect monitoring is not only about production.

The same systems can contribute to assessing biodiversity within agricultural environments.

AgriSound is also developing technologies for automated biodiversity monitoring, combining acoustic sensors and other technologies to gather information about species presence and abundance across different habitats.

This creates an important connection between two objectives that have often been considered separately:

producing better and better understanding the environment in which production takes place.

For farms and food supply chains, being able to document changes in biodiversity may also become increasingly important as part of broader sustainability strategies.

The future is about integrating multiple layers of information

The real evolution of precision pollination will probably not be represented by a single sensor.

It will be about integrating multiple data sources.

Pollinator information could be combined with:

• weather data;

• satellite imagery;

• environmental sensors;

• flowering data;

• hive locations;

• crop maps;

• yield and quality data.

The result will be a much more comprehensive picture of the production process.

One example is represented by projects in which AgriSound integrates bioacoustic monitoring with connectivity systems and other data-collection tools, with the goal of enabling monitoring even in remote areas.

Measure to improve

Precision agriculture has introduced a simple but revolutionary principle:

what can be measured can be managed more effectively.

Precision pollination applies the same principle to a natural process that, until recently, was extremely difficult to quantify at scale.

It is not about controlling nature.

It is about understanding it better.

Knowing where pollinators are most active, when they are most active and which environmental conditions accompany their activity makes it possible to develop more targeted strategies.

For farmers, this means having an additional source of information to improve crop management.

For the environment, it means being able to measure more concretely the impact of agricultural practices on biodiversity.

AgriSound: listening to the field to make better decisions

The technology developed by AgriSound is based on the idea of transforming insect activity into usable data.

Through bioacoustic sensors, environmental data and digital platforms, the company is developing tools to monitor pollinators and support more precise decisions in pollination management.

It represents a significant evolution of the concept of precision agriculture.

Because if until yesterday we could map soil, water or plant vigor, today we can begin to map the invisible work of insects.

And this could become one of the next frontiers of digital agriculture.

Agroconsulenze and AgriSound

For Agroconsulenze, agricultural innovation is not simply about introducing new

technologies, but understanding how they can become practical tools for improving agronomic decision-making.

The collaboration with AgriSound fits precisely into this perspective: bringing pollination into the world of monitoring, measurement and precision agriculture.

Because understanding what is happening in the field means having more tools to manage it.

And increasingly, the first piece of information needed to make a decision may come from a sound.

www.agrisound.io