Dairy technology start-up, Stellapps Technologies Pvt Ltd, on Monday, said it has been granted a 20-year patent for its invention – farm and herd management system, which helps dairy stake holders to remotely monitor and manage their farms through mobile devices.

“We have been granted a patent for an invention in the automated, IoT-based, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) led, farm management space. The patent is the first technology patent ever in the AgTech space in India for a start-up,” said Ranjith Mukundan, CEO and Co-founder Stellaps. The company had filed for this patent in 2013 and the grant is effective from July 5, 2013 to 2033.

“This farm management-related patent grant is indicative of the deep-tech investments we have made in the agriculture value chain, since inception,” Mukundan said. Besides this, the company has filed for four other patents and is in the process of filing one more.

Farm management

Mukundan said this invention, specifically, brings feed mixers/dispensers, milking machines/parlours, bulk milk coolers and milk tankers, animal health monitoring devices onto the cloud via Internet of Things (IoT) gateways.

Also, it securely integrates the cloud-based farm and herd management systems with information from farm equipment and devices.

This integration enables better decision making in agro-input planning, animal feed planning/ration balancing, health interventions, monitoring/controlling of farm-based cold chain.

“Small holder farmers, farm managers/owners, dairy professionals and other agri supply chain stakeholders can remotely monitor and manage their farms through mobile devices as the solution is cloud-based and the outcomes disseminated is a function of AI/ML algorithms. In addition to that, this invention opens up a plethora of possibilities for driving efficiencies through machine learning as information from multiple farms is brought onto a single platform,” Mukundan said.

Source : The Hindu Business Line Oct 4 2022