Fredericton agtech company Picketa Systems has announced the addition of canola to its LENS (Leaf Evaluated Nutrient System) platform. Building on past success with potatoes and corn, Picketa is expanding its support of staple broadacre crops to meet the nutrient management needs of North America’s canola growers, the company said in a press release.

Due to variable field conditions, suboptimal fertilization is common in oilseed and grain crops, especially with macronutrients like nitrogen, the company said. This results in yield losses in the case of insufficient nutrient supply or increased costs in the case of overfertilization.

Picketa’s LENS platform uses pattern-matching AI from leaf structures to identify 13 nutrient concentrations. Unlike traditional lab testing, which can be slow and costly, the LENS enables instant results, the company said, allowing growers to make timely, data-driven decisions.

“We see Picketa’s LENS as a key tool for ourselves and any producer who wants to fine-tune fertility in season to maximize yield from every acre of canola,” said Scott Horner, Chief Commercial Officer at HyTech Seed Productions.

Initially developed for use with potatoes on a family farm in Saint-André, New Brunswick, the LENS is now deployed across Canada and a dozen states in the U.S. Corn was added in 2024.

The journey to include canola began in November 2023, when Picketa’s team partnered with HyTech to collect essential data in Chile. Through collaborations and field trials across North and South America, the team gathered lab-validated samples to calibrate the LENS for canola, ensuring accurate nutrient readings tailored to the crop’s specific requirements, the company said.

Picketa is now confident its process can be replicated on an increasing number of crops. The aim is to cover every major crop type and make the LENS the standard for tissue analysis.

The company is partnering with Cargill, a leader in agriculture and food production, to pilot the LENS technology in a key Cargill location in Camrose, Alberta.

“This pilot will help us better understand how real-time nutrient analysis can support our growers in making data-backed decisions throughout the season.” said Glenn Houser, Crop Inputs Leader for Cargill’s Ag and Trading business in Canada.