BioScout Automated Agricultural Disease Detection

BioScout operates an airborne particulate detection system for agriculture, centred on autonomous, solar-powered air samplers that capture daily air samples in the field. Captured material is imaged using light microscopy at 5K resolution, which the company states can resolve spores down to two microns, and analysed to produce spore identification and counts. The samplers run continuously with cartridge consumables the company describes as lasting up to a stated field-autonomy period under typical daily sampling, limiting field maintenance.

The workflow described by the company covers patented sensor technology for air sampling, detection and identification of pathogens, disease mapping and ground-based insights, with weather data combined with live spore counts to produce disease-risk outputs in a customer dashboard. The intended applications are changing spray timings, reducing preventative fungicide applications, and supporting reduced-chemistry or biological programs. BioScout publishes case-study claims including reduced spray costs, reduced disease loss per hectare, and value protected per sampler where a total disease loss event is averted.

The company also maintains a detection catalogue organised by crop and region, spanning broadacre/arable, horticulture and viticulture, and offers tailored monitoring where a crop or target disease is not already covered. It publishes technical resources on pathogens and spore trapping, including disease models for Eutypa and Botryosphaeria and material on silver scurf in potatoes.

Business model

BioScout deploys sampler hardware in the field and delivers the resulting spore data and disease-risk intelligence to customers through a dashboard, with detection coverage defined by crop and region and tailored monitoring available on request.

Traction

The company publishes field case studies reporting reduced spray costs and fungicide passes, avoided disease loss per hectare, and return on investment per sampler across a 50-hectare managed area, and lists partners and awards on its site.

Latest developments

In November 2024 the company published work on disease detection models for Eutypa and Botryosphaeria, and earlier in 2024 released guidance on seasonal spore tracking in Australian crops.