September 11, 2024 – Varberg, Sweden – Flox is thrilled to announce the results of its first season-long deployment at Börsgården farm, where its drone-based wildlife herding solution has been used to enable coexistence with wildlife.

 

After years of devastating crop damage caused by geese, Börsgården farm is now experiencing a significant reduction in losses, saving a substantial amount of crops that would have otherwise been destroyed by geese.

 

“In some fields, up to 70% of our crops are usually destroyed by geese. It’s been a constant struggle for years.” – says Jacob Olsson, Farm Manager, Börsgården. Jacob is one of many farmers world-wide directly impacted by the increasing human-wildlife conflicts caused by recent increases in the majority of large bird and mammal populations like geese, wild boars and deer. This is a severe problem caused by the effects of climate change and human expansion. But thanks to new technology, now there is finally a hope for Jacob and other farmers.

 

“We saw immediate results and the efficiency continued throughout the whole season. The geese respond differently to Flox compared to other deterrence methods we’ve tried in the past.” – continues Jacob. As the first season-long  deployment of the Flox system within agriculture, the focus was on gathering data-based insights on long-term efficiency of the system since this is one of the main limitations with the traditional and modern methods on the market.

 

But the results were clear – the geese did not get used to the solution, in fact, quite the opposite. “The geese even learned to stay away the more we used the system. It’s clear this is the solution we’ve been waiting for.“ – says Jacob.

 

These results mark a significant milestone in Flox’ mission to enable coexistence with wildlife. Within agriculture, the ultimate goal is to gradually introduce a fully autonomous, drone-based solution placed in the field that works around the clock – just like a digital sheepdog that gently keeps wildlife away from designated areas like crop and vegetable fields, vineyards, and even livestock that need protection against wolf attacks.

 

“Wild animals are way smarter than one would think. The secret behind these successful results is the way we work with them. Our systems combine the best of applied wildlife science knowledge and AI. That is where the magic happens.” – adds Anna Widen, Chief Wildlife Officer at Flox.

 

This deployment is part of the VILL(T)SAM contract financed by the Swedish Board of Agriculture with the aim to faster validate solutions that help Swedish farmers to avoid costly crop damage caused by wildlife, in collaboration with Hushållningssällskapet in Halland and Halmstad University Innovation.

 

Fast facts

Deployment period: 4 months

Nr. of unique species: 3

 

Specie – Nr. of animals detected- Nr. of animals deterred – Efficiency

Barnacle geese – 1827 –  1807 –  98,9%

Greylag geese –  165 – 165 – 100%

Canada geese – 40 – 40 – 100%

 

Media contact: Sara Nozkova, CEO, Flox, [email protected]

Sales contact: Kristoffer Ohlsson, CCO, Flox, [email protected]; +46701010636