Photo of Sergio Ballester

Software

Sergio Ballester

He uses drones and machine learning to improve Costa Rica's agricultural production

Year Honored
2015

Region
Latin America

Hails From
Central America

"The use of fertilizers and herbicides will not suffice to sustain the growing population. The application of these traditional, agricultural methods in tropical areas wastes too many resources, increases costs for farmers and is harmful for the environment due to the excessive use of chemicals.

For this reason, the young Costa Rican innovator Sergio Ballester decided to rely on technology through his company, INDIGO Drones, which uses machine learning software that allows a computer to learn on the fly and improve its results in subsequent iterations.

Ballester´s drones take aerial photographs of the cultivation area and captures data through its sensors. Later these images are processed in order to generate increasingly accurate predictions.

Currently, INDIGO Drones offers rice and pineapple crop behavior forecast services in Costa Rica."