Valeria Kogan, PhD, Founder and CEO of Fermata has been recognized as one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in 2022, Valeria is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record in biotechnology and innovation. As the founder of Fermata and the biotech firm Smartomica, Valeria combines her scientific expertise with a visionary approach to transforming industries.
Fermata is a data science company revolutionizing agriculture with cutting-edge computer vision solutions. Its flagship platform, Croptimus™, provides 24/7 automated detection of pests and diseases, helping growers identify issues like powdery mildew, bud rot, and mosaic before they escalate. By reducing scouting time and minimizing crop loss, Fermata empowers farmers to focus on solutions and maximize yield, whether in controlled environments or outdoor settings.
What inspired you to transition from bioinformatics and cancer research to agriculture technology? How did your experience with Smartomica influence the founding of Fermata?
My transition from biotech to agriculture was pretty accidental. Friends of friends of mine who were tomato producers were looking for someone with experience in AI to brainstorm together on its applications in farming. It was the time when deep learning has just started and created a lot of buzz in the tech space – it also found immediate applications in the medical domain through computer vision in radiology. Everyone in my circle was talking about it, so when I saw what the farming guys showed me – plant health issues that can be detected visually and that need to be identified in real time – it immediately clicked. I had an idea to bring the knowledge from the medical space to agriculture which was a much less popular and digitized industry back then.
With a background in AI and biotech, what challenges did you face in adapting those technologies to agriculture?
I think in general anyone who comes with a digital product to a conservative industry faces the same level of resistance. However, it’s harder if you are an outsider. My approach was and is being humble and driven by the willingness to apply my company’s knowledge to help people, not to tell them what they are doing wrong and how we can help them do it in the right way. Through every conversation with growers, we learn and try to stay open-minded and not too attached to our technology while prioritizing the needs of the grower and adjusting our product accordingly.
Fermata focuses on reducing crop losses and pesticide use. What was the initial reception of this idea in the agricultural community, and how did you convince stakeholders to adopt AI-driven solutions?
The initial reception was that it was not possible. I can’t say that much has changed over the past 5 years! We see great support from the early adopters and a lot of concerns from the broader audience. We are lucky to have customers who believe in the technology and don’t just pay us money but become the showcases for the rest of the market. The best and only thing we can really do is let the product speak for itself.
How does Croptimus™ integrate multiple data sources, such as satellite imagery, sensors, and AI models, to provide actionable insights for growers?
Currently, we use only visual data from the cameras to analyze plant health and identify pests, diseases, nutrient problems, and other issues. However, with the new developments in the AI sector, we understand the benefits that additional data sources can bring to us both for higher detection quality and also for enabling predictive analytics. Currently, we only use climate data in some projects, but plan to expand beyond that in 2025.
What makes Fermata’s early pest and disease detection capabilities unique compared to other AgTech solutions?
There are several things that make us unique. First of all, over the past 5 years, we have collected an insane database of plant images both through our customers and with our own R&D facility where we infest the plants to collect additional data. We also used an internal labeling team which we very carefully trained. In combination with a broad network of agronomy experts from across the globe, this helped us to build a very high-quality dataset. A deep understanding of machine learning in combination with the product vision helped us create a useful and simple product on top of that.
AI and computer vision are advancing rapidly. How does Fermata ensure its technology stays ahead of the curve in this competitive landscape?
At Fermata, we follow a data-centric approach, ensuring high-quality and flexible data labeling by bringing together agronomists and data scientists. We invest in diverse datasets to keep our technology competitive and we also focus on solving specific problems and collaborate with partners when needed to remain the best at what we do.
You’ve emphasized sustainability as a key goal. How do you see Fermata’s technology impacting global efforts to reduce food waste and minimize environmental harm?
By helping farmers identify pests and diseases in time we help them prevent losses, minimize food waste, and reduce pesticide use. This is especially important in the current environment when the climate is changing. Many growers suffer from new pests or diseases that they have never seen in their regions before. Because of that, early detection and assistance in tuning the mitigation strategies is essential for them.
Raising $10 million in Series A funding is a significant milestone. How will this funding accelerate Fermata’s vision, and what are your immediate priorities for growth?
We plan to use this money to grow from “The Eyes of Ag” to “The Brain of Ag” by integrating more data sources into our platform and broadening the list of products we offer beyond pests and diseases. Our immediate priorities include focusing on certain markets – Canada and the Netherlands, and tomato crops to get significant market share for the segment and then replicate it for the other regions and crops.
What role do you see emerging technologies, like robotics or IoT, playing in Fermata’s future innovations?
I believe that advancements in robotics and IoT will bring huge value to Fermata, because all these companies are our potential partners. We are looking forward to seeing both new ways to collect data as well as automated solutions to move through the facility and use fewer sensors and cameras to achieve the same goals.
What’s next for Fermata? Are there specific crops, regions, or technologies you are particularly excited to explore in the coming years?
In 2025 we will be focused on tomato producers mainly in Canada and the Netherlands, but following that we aim to expand our services to other vegetables like cucumbers and peppers, then strawberries and grapes. I hope that we will enter global markets with the new crops at the end of this year and in 2026. Regarding technologies, our plan is to go beyond pests and diseases into predicting the yield, assessing the efficiency of pollination, and many other exciting tasks where farmers will appreciate the help of AI.
Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Fermata.
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