Agri-Tech Startup Deepflow Technologies Partners With Indian Coffee Plantation To Pilot Hyperlocal Climate Monitoring Systems – CoffeeTalk

Kelachandra Coffee, a privately held coffee plantation company in India, has partnered with Deepflow Technologies, an agri-tech startup supported by NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore, to implement hyperlocal climate monitoring systems across its coffee estates. This collaboration involves the installation of Augmented Weather Stations (A-WS) and IndraWeather technology, powered by mistEO, across Kelachandra’s 15 estates in the Western Ghats regions of Chikkamagaluru and Wayanad.

The primary objective of this initiative is to foster a data-driven approach to coffee cultivation through the generation of estate-level weather intelligence, which will aid in climate risk management and operational planning. Initially piloted at the Chandrapore Estate, the project has since progressed into a long-term deployment phase that will encompass the entire Kumergode Cluster, affecting Kelachandra’s extensive 6,500-acre estate network.

Rishina Kuruvilla, Head of CSR & Sustainability at Kelachandra Coffee, has highlighted that this partnership supports the company’s sustainability objectives. The increasing climate variability has posed new challenges for coffee growers, and by implementing Deepflow’s hyperlocal climate intelligence systems, Kelachandra aims to transition from reactive strategies to more proactive climate adaptation measures. The gathered data will facilitate informed decisions on varietal planning and agroforestry practices, crucial for maintaining productivity while ensuring environmental sustainability over time.

Deepflow’s Augmented Weather Stations will collect real-time data encompassing rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind, and other critical weather parameters. This data will be processed through IndraWeather to produce localized weather forecasts to enhance daily and seasonal farm operations.

Neleema Rana George, Head of Coffee Works & Technology at Kelachandra, underscored the operational advantages afforded by this technology throughout the production cycle. The ability to access real-time, location-specific weather data enables the team to effectively plan irrigation, fertilization, harvesting, and fermentation activities based on the current climate conditions rather than relying solely on historical weather patterns. Utilizing forecast-based weather windows is also expected to improve the management of harvest scheduling and post-harvest processes, impacting yield stability and the quality of coffee.

The pilot phase of the deployment demonstrated an impressive real-time weather data accuracy of around 95%, with forecast accuracy ranging between 80 and 88%. Notably, rainfall predictions achieved an accuracy rate of up to 92% during significant weather events. This precision is anticipated to enhance pest management, labor scheduling, and operational cost optimization.

Atthri Anand, Managing Director of Deepflow Technologies, remarked that this deployment exemplifies the application of microclimate intelligence in plantation agriculture. The successful performance of the Augmented Weather Stations and IndraWeather models in the Western Ghats illustrates the potential for these systems to operate effectively within the complexities of coffee cultivation in varied terrains.

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