Cclair is the first flowering mapping service for optimising thinning. It is an innovative decision-making tool that enables growers to manage thinning independently, thanks to a global and objective view of their orchards. The growers define their own strategy to modulate the chemical or mechanical thinning operations. They can thus reduce their chemical, mechanical and manual thinning operations and maximise fruit production.

In apple orchards, thinning consists of keeping only the optimum number of fruits on the trees. Thinning means adapting the fruit load of trees to their production capacity, using various chemical, mechanical or manual methods. Nowadays, thinning is carried out across the whole plot, without considering the different loads within each plot. The Cclair service enables these differences in flowering to be mapped and managed for each tree. The service can be used in both conventional and organic farming.

In concrete terms, use of the Cclair service will result in a 15% gain in yield, while reducing the IFT of the chemical thinning strategy by 35% and manual thinning time by 20%.

The CClair service is based on three elements:
– An on-board acquisition system enables growers to map flowering in full AUTONOMY. The system is easily installed on the front of the tractor to take photos of all the trees in the plot and objectively assess the flowering intensity of each tree.
– A Web application allows growers to view their flowering map and establish their own thinning strategy based on the different flowering levels.
– The generation of modulation files, compatible with market consoles, will enable the growers to target their intervention in the plot according to the flowering map. In addition, to limit wastage, the service includes a spray mixture preparation calculator.

The innovation of the Cclair service lies as much in the precision farming adapted to arboriculture as in the autonomy given to growers at every stage, from mapping flowering to modulating thinning operations.