The world is moving forward with fruit growing; technology and science at the service of agriculture

The year 2024 brought significant advancements to the fruit growing industry, focusing on new technologies, climate-resistant fruits, and international collaborations to enhance productivity, sustainability, and combat labor shortages. The use of drones for mango fruit detection and crop prediction using AI has been prominent, with projects in Mexico, Chile, and Spain. Argentina's collaboration with Vietnam aims to improve the sustainability of tropical fruit farming in northern Argentina. Colombia's use of drones for environmental protection and robotics for fruit picking showcase the industry's innovation. WSU's gentle apple picker and MSU's blackberry harvesting robot are examples of advanced machinery. However, the industry also faces challenges such as illegal activities in the banana sector, with Ecuador's government responding with 'Safe Farms' initiatives to ensure production integrity.

In order not to be left behind, every industry must make changes and adapt to current times, and fruit growing is no exception. New technologies to improve harvests and yields, control pests, fruits adapted to climate change or resistant to diseases, set the tone in 2024, trends that will surely not stop in 2025. Pages and pages could be dedicated to talking about the advances in the fruit sector, but we want to offer a broad look at what happened in 2024 and the impact of this in the coming years. The use of drones is increasingly common in agriculture. This year, in Mexico, the project “Detection and classification of mango fruits through RGB images captured with a drone” is being carried out, with the aim of improving productivity, reducing costs and mitigating the impacts of labor shortages in the fruit industry. In Chile, the universities of Talca and Beijing launched an innovative project to transform agriculture, using cutting-edge technologies with artificial intelligence, ...