ClimateAi launches AI-driven crop yield outlook amid global climate volatility

Date:04-24-2024

ClimateAi, the world’s first climate resilience platform that applies powerful machine learning to climate risk forecasting, announced the public launch of its latest product offering, ClimateLens Monitor Yield Outlook. This new solution offers climate-driven yield forecasts for key commodity crops, including corn, potato, canola, oats, hops, soybeans, sorghum, wheat and barley, as well as insights into the climate factors driving the variability.

Today’s extreme weather and climate events continue to pose significant disruptions for food and agriculture supply chains, as we have seen recently with cocoa prices skyrocketing due to drought in South Africa, or soybean production taking a hit in the midwestern US and South America. These disruptions cause costly ripple effects, creating challenges for farmers' livelihoods, companies sourcing key inputs, and global agricultural trade.

″We continue to see extreme weather, from heat and droughts to excessive moisture, wreak havoc on our global food supply,″ said Himanshu Gupta, CEO of ClimateAi. ″This volatility will only increase year over year, so it is imperative that both businesses and governments understand the impact on production, imports, exports, and food prices with enough time to react.″

Monitor Yield Outlook draws on ClimateAi’s 6+ years of experience providing patented seasonal and sub-seasonal weather forecasts and depth of agronomic risk expertise across more than 50 customers. This new product formalizes yield forecasting initiatives that have proven valuable for a number of global customers, whose successes with ClimateAi’s yield outlooks drove the company to scale up their offering. One such customer is Japanese multinational brewing and distilling company, Suntory, who have been using ClimateAi’s forecasts to gain insights into climate risk to corn yield.  Brian Golden, Suntory’s Head of Global Supply Solutions, commented, ″The yield tool is very insightful for us and a quicker way to understand impacts. Understanding county level yield predictions of different commodities is quite impactful for us.″

The product offers weekly yield outlooks from planting through harvest for key production countries, states, and specific sourcing locations, surfacing the key climate risk factors contributing to yield with models uniquely calibrated by crop and region. Monitor Yield Outlook offers more frequent updates and increased actionability over public reports or consultants, allowing sourcing and procurement professionals to drive more effective contracting strategies, anticipate key drivers of sourcing risks, and take early action in commodity markets.