About

Ukko Agro is an Ontario-based software company specializing in agricultural technology. Their flagship product, ForeSite™, is a predictive analytics platform powered by advanced machine learning and our proprietary Field Adaptive and Integrated Modeling (FAIM) system. ForeSite™ enables farmers and their advisors—such as agricultural retailers and crop consultants—to plan and optimize farming operations, leading to enhanced productivity, sustainability, and profitability. The platform provides field-specific analytics, customizable heat maps, crop growth stage modeling, and disease risk assessments for crops like soybean, wheat, canola, and potato.

Project

In this project, Ukko Agro will develop and commercialize a new predictive tool within ForeSite™ to help corn growers in Ontario manage a major crop disease called Tar Spot. This disease has caused significant yield losses across North America, including millions of dollars in crop damage in Ontario alone. Traditional methods of detecting and treating Tar Spot are reactive, labor-intensive, and often too late to prevent damage.  With the support of the Development and Commercialization Program, Ukko will access the CyberRange TDS to carry out cybersecurity assessments on their platform as data security is a highly sensitive topic for both established organizations and farm owners.

Impact & Outcomes

Following the successful completion of the project, Ukko Agro will be in a position to take steps to fully commercialize the enhanced ForeSite platform and maximize industry adoption of their new platform. The project will yield validated predictive models, field-tested and validated models and the ability to demonstrate to customers (Agriculture retailers, and Crop Consulting Companies), and the end users (farm owners), that their sensitive data is secure within the platform. Within 24 months of project completion, Ukko Agro is forecasting up to a 15X increase in subscriptions and the hiring of 4-6 additional employees.