The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (hereinafter KIMM, President Park Sang-jin), under the Ministry of Science and ICT, is embarking on full-scale technology development to address the increasingly severe damage caused by crop diseases and pests amidst climate change.

On the 5th, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) launched the APPLE (Autonomous disease and Pest forecasting PLatform for opEn field fruit trees) Convergence Research Group (Director Lee Geun-ho, hereinafter the Research Group) at its headquarters in Daejeon and held a plaque unveiling ceremony.

The research team, with support from the National Science and Technology Research Council (Chairman Kim Bok-chul), will invest a total of 20 billion won in research funds to embark on the development of autonomous pest and disease monitoring technology.

A total of 13 institutions are participating, including government-funded research institutes such as the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, as well as universities such as Kyungpook National University and Chungnam National University.

Unlike existing projects, the research group implements an 'On-Site Convergence Research' system to maximize convergence among participating institutions. In this system, participating researchers gather at the lead institution, the KIMM headquarters in Daejeon, to carry out research tasks and return to their original institutions after the project concludes.

Currently, due to the decline and aging of the agricultural population, there is a severe labor shortage, and exposure to risks associated with operating agricultural machinery is also increasing.

In addition, the occurrence of pests is increasing due to climate change caused by continued global warming, and importing countries' products, such as the recent problem of bedbug spreadThe influx of alien pests is increasing due to factors such as an increase in the number of trees and the diversification of importing countries.

As a solution to this global environmental crisis, autonomous technology for the continuous monitoring of sudden outbreaks of alien pests and diseases in open fields is required.

The development of autonomous monitoring technology for open fields consists of four technologies: an early detection system for pests and diseases, integration and service of big data for pest control, platform standards for smart pest control, and autonomous agricultural machinery for farm crop monitoring.

The research team plans to develop autonomous pest and disease monitoring technology needed in actual open-field orchard environments through organic technology convergence rather than simply combining these technologies.

Director Lee Geun-ho stated, “The open-field autonomous forecasting platform technology to be developed by the research group will enhance the efficiency of open-field agriculture, which occupies the majority of farmland, and contribute to strengthening agricultural competitiveness,” adding, “We will strive to generate significant results through convergence with researchers from various participating institutions.”