Pessl buys Solentum potato storage and yield forecast tech

Solentum was founded by HZPC, a Dutch company specialised in seed potato trading and breeding. In April of this year, HZPC decided to stop developing and supplying digital agricultural products and services through its subsidiary Solentum.

SolAntenna and Solgrader

Pessl Instruments GmbH has now taken over some of the products of Solentum, including SolAntenna and SolGrader. SolAntenna is a wireless multipurpose electronic potato device providing automated real-time information. It is designed to collect, analyse and help to control storage conditions. It measures the most critical parameters as CO2, temperature and relative humidity.

The SolGrader app allows users to take photos of potatoes in the field and calculates the estimated yield of their crops and the size of the potatoes on the spot.

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SolAntenna is a wireless multipurpose electronic potato device providing automated real-time information. – Photo: Pessl Instruments

Solentum’s current Managing Director Egbert Bakker will make the switch to Pessl Instruments through this acquisition as Product-Sales Manager BeNeLux and Northern Europe and product specialist of Solentum’s products.

Solentum B.V. and Pessl Instruments have been working together since 2019. “We are pleased that customers can continue to work with Solentum’s products,” Herman Verveld, commercial director HZPC, said.

According to Verveld, with the acquisition by Pessl future innovations and improvements of Solentum products are guaranteed.

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The SolGrader app allows users to take photos of potatoes in the field and calculates the estimated yield of their crops and the size of the potatoes on the spot. – Photo: Pessl Instruments

SolGrader app used in combination with Pessl technology

Pessl CEO/Founder Gottfried Pessl said: “The SolGrader and SolAntenna from Solentum B.V. will fit perfectly into the existing hard- and software product lines because we offer our clients, worldwide, a comprehensive solution from the fields to the storage rooms. The SolGrader app will be used in combination with our weather stations, disease models, satellite images, portable nutrition and soil moisture sensors to estimate the calibration and yield in the fields. The SolAntenna is a very innovative and useful device to monitor temperature, relative humidity and CO2 in the storage rooms without electric infrastructure and alert the farmer when there is a problem in a particular area of the storage, in real time.”