As more agriculture Internet of Things nodes are brought onto the cloud, new machine-learning-based techniques are driving real economic impact for farmers, according to Shami Patel (pictured), chief executive officer at LumiGrow Inc.

“LumiGrow is a smart LED lighting company that focuses exclusively on the horticulture sector. The intelligence is based on a smart fixture that’s wirelessly connected to a cloud-based software solution,” said Patel, explaining how his company is leveraging the cloud to control lighting patterns for indoor grow operations. “Our solution allows the grower to alter the spectrum of light to fundamentally change plant biology.”

Patel spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during this year’s FOOD IT: Fork to Farm event in Mountain View, Califronia. (* Disclosure below.)

Lighting control in the cloud

LumiGrow’s approach to controlling production by altering the light spectrum is based on scientific research and is proving to be a powerful tool for farmers optimizing growth patterns for different market segments, Patel explained.

“We partner with universities and production partners to really understand the nuances of how the light can be used to achieve an economic objective of the grower,” he said. “In certain instances we can change the root mass or the strength of the stock for early growers in the propagation field. We can also alter the fundamental biology of large-scale growers to enhance yield.”

Lighting is only one aspect of a farmer’s production strategy. Integration points with other control systems should also be considered.

“When a farmer wants to evaluate the control of a crop, they want to make sure they understand all of the different growth variables, whether its hydration, HVAC or lighting. The unique aspect of our solution is that we’re putting in the infrastructure with our cloud-based software to really be an IoT platform so that we can integrate additional sensors efficiently,” Patel stated.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the FOOD IT: Fork to Farm event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for FOOD IT: Fork to Farm. Neither Western Digital Corp., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial influence on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE