BrocoMatuRisk
Broccoli Maturity & Risk Monitoring for Optimal Harvest Timing
AI-driven, UAV-based harvest decision support for Brassicaceae crops, protecting yield, quality and farmer income against early blooming and market-timing risks.
Vision.
To equip small and medium-sized Brassicaceae farms with an affordable, AI-driven Decision Support System that turns UAV imagery, weather forecasts and local market data into actionable harvest recommendations. BrocoMatuRisk integrates three decision layers — what is ready (maturity maps), what is at risk (early blooming risk), and what is economically optimal (local market price prediction) — empowering data-driven harvest decisions and supporting the resilience and profitability of small-scale European horticulture.
The challenge.
Small and medium-sized broccoli farms in Europe are increasingly losing harvests due to unexpected heatwaves triggering premature flowering before market-ready maturity is reached, resulting in lower prices and unsellable produce. Harvest timing today relies on manual field scouting — a time-consuming, subjective process that limits the farm’s ability to optimise harvest planning, labour allocation and market timing, leading to economic losses and operational inefficiency.
Climate-driven
crop losses
Unpredictable
harvest timing
Manual and inefficient crop monitoring
Approach & solutions.
To address this challenge, BrocoMatuRisk develops an affordable, cloud-based Decision Support System (DSS) that helps small and medium-sized broccoli farms optimise harvest timing and minimise climate-related risks. By combining drone imagery, Artificial Intelligence, weather forecasts and market insights, the platform provides practical recommendations that enable farmers to make informed harvesting decisions, improve crop quality and maximise economic returns.
Core capabilities include:
- AI-powered crop maturity assessment using drone imagery and computer vision.
- Climate risk prediction by combining crop status with weather forecasts to anticipate premature flowering.
- Smart harvest optimisation through integrated agronomic and market intelligence.
- Field-level insights, including crop maturity mapping and harvest prioritisation.
- Accessible, mobile-friendly platform designed for cost-effective deployment and future adaptation to other Brassicaceae crops.
The platform combines low-cost data acquisition with advanced AI analytics to deliver practical, field-level decision support tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized farms. Its modular design also enables future replication across additional crops and agricultural regions, supporting more resilient and sustainable farming practices.
Commercial Pilot
BrocoMatuRisk is being validated through a commercial pilot at AFOI STATHOPOULOI KAI SIA G.P.,
a small-to-medium open-field horticultural farm in Filiatra, Messinia (Peloponnese, Greece).
Smart Horticulture
Digital solutions for broccoli, cauliflower and other Brassicaceae crops.
Climate-Smart Farming
Supporting resilient agricultural practices through climate risk prediction and adaptive harvesting.
Agricultural AI
Computer vision and predictive analytics for crop maturity assessment and decision support.
Digital Agriculture
Integrating drone imagery, AI and cloud technologies into everyday farming operations.
Agri-Food Decision Support
Combining crop, weather and market intelligence to optimise harvest planning.
Sustainable Food Production
Improving crop quality, reducing losses and increasing farm profitability.
Our role.
As Technology Provider and Team Leader, INLECOM Innovation leads the design, AI model development (computer vision and decision support), platform implementation, and pilot validation of the BrocoMatuRisk solution, coordinating all technical and dissemination activities in partnership with the pilot farm.
BrocoMatuRisk is funded by the GUARDIANS project through a Co-Creation Open Call Sub-Grant (No. 02-2025). GUARDIANS has received funding from the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under GA 101084468. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
