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"What more glamorous way to represent French Tech at VivaTech than by combining cutting-edge agronomic science and robotics to protect the lovely Burgundy vineyards?
Until now, growers had to choose between the risky flavor of open-air farming and the bland comfort of the greenhouse. BIENESIS introduces a third path: a smart, retractable, robotic canopy that secures yields, reduce inputs, and preserve harvest quality.
From iconic French vineyards to raspberry fields worldwide, precision canopy deployment is set to redefine climate-resilient agriculture."
Transcript
00:00Please welcome Nathan Minguet, co-founder of Eonesys.
00:10Hello, Nathan.
00:13Hello.
00:16Hi, everyone. I'm Nathan Minguet.
00:20I'm very glad to be here presenting at VivaTech.
00:24We've been awarded the Tech for Change finalist title.
00:30So that's a great recognition.
00:32And we also won the Best of Innovation Award back in January at CES Las Vegas for our Smart Canopy,
00:40what we believe is the next revolution in agriculture.
00:45So you can see here teasing how this works.
00:49It started back in 2022 at the Michelin Innovation Lab with an exploration of about one year with the whole
00:59wine industry.
01:01So what we did was we met with customers, with technical institutes, with regulatory organizations
01:09to tackle the main challenge that vineyards face today, climate change.
01:17For the past 10 years, vineyards have been losing more than 30% of their harvest each and every year.
01:25And this number is only growing with the time.
01:28This week, as we speak, there is more than 40 degrees in Bordeaux, 35 degrees in Burgundy.
01:37This is completely unexpected and new territory for vineyards and for France.
01:44And that's what we tried to address with Biodesis.
01:50So we spent more than six months building the specifications with the industry
01:57because Michelin didn't come and say, hey, let's put umbrellas on vineyards.
02:02No, we understood their constraints, their needs.
02:06And then we moved to R&D and tried to find the best solution to address their problems.
02:14So what they need is a solution that is retractable because you can't remove grapes from their terroir.
02:25Otherwise, you have grape juice.
02:27So the whole wine industry is deeply intertwined with its terroir.
02:33And we need to respect that.
02:35So that's why we have something that is non-invasive that we only deploy when needed.
02:41We deployed it only 15 times per year for the past two years.
02:46And we were able to secure the harvest, preserve the quality of the wine,
02:51and reduce dramatically the treatments also, which is the second worst challenge that the industry is facing.
03:02So this was the first criteria.
03:04The second one was, okay, so we have the science of the smart umbrella,
03:09but now we need to pass our tractors.
03:12So we had to find a solution to build a canopy which would be long enough to protect the most
03:18we can
03:18because, of course, the least canopies you place in the field, the cheaper it is,
03:23while being able to fold it back into its box, which is this box, the size of a paper sheet,
03:32so that we can pass tractors above it.
03:36The idea is really that you can put that, this is seamless for the integration into the operations,
03:45so that 98% of the time when it's folded, you don't have to worry, you don't have to think
03:52even about it.
03:54So that was the second point.
03:55Third point is, vineyards are all different.
03:58You can't put an infrastructure which is very heavy because you are in slopes, you have various types of soils.
04:06This is a very complex environment for which our product is perfectly versatile.
04:12And finally, we want to deploy it from a distance, from our sofa, from when we are sitting in our
04:19tractor a few kilometers away,
04:22and when the weather unfolds and the catastrophe is coming.
04:29So, I'm going to show you how it works.
04:37So, the total deployment time is about one minute, and after that is very reactive.
04:44We have sensors placed in the field from which we monitor all the agronomic data,
04:50so that we can deploy only when the link between nature and the plant has been broken.
04:56That's the promise that Bienesis is making.
04:59And then, the grower can deploy it from its smartphone.
05:05He receives an alert, there is a danger, then he deploys it, and the protection unfolds.
05:31The first time we deployed it, it felt like we built a rocket.
05:42So, the canopy, as I said, is six meters long, and it protects against, it's an all-in-one climate
05:49protection.
05:50It protects against frost by capturing the heat from the soil during the nights of late spring frost.
05:59It works also against hail.
06:02We tested it against rocks of more than five centimeters of diameter, and it worked.
06:10It works also against extreme heat, so that's what we are facing this week.
06:16So, there are two aspects on this.
06:18One is direct sun scorch from sun exposure, but also water stress, which completely stops the development of the grapes.
06:29And finally, we have started, so these are, let's say, the main hazards, and we have started to expand, explore
06:37the science of smart precision cover of crops.
06:41And we discovered back in 2024 that we could also stop diseases from developing under the canopy.
06:50By deploying at very precise moments during the season, based on the phenology stage, agronomic data again, and how the
07:00grower is using pesticides,
07:02we can deploy at the right moment to completely cut diseases and reduce treatments by two, three times.
07:11So, that's the first use case we've discovered beyond climate protection.
07:20And we think there are many more usages, like complementary to irrigation and things like this, and we are exploring
07:29it.
07:30We keep exploring this science today with the wine industry, but even beyond.
07:35Because we started with the wine industry because they suffer from losses, and they can't install greenhouses.
07:43But the other industries, they've been labeled raspberries, strawberries, they were authorized to install greenhouses, so they did.
07:52But when they saw the extraordinary results that we had with the canopy, we have launched a partnership two weeks
08:01ago with Andros,
08:03which is the biggest fruit producer in France, to explore how we could transfer our technology to raspberry fields.
08:11Because they face the same losses, and they also have big quality issues.
08:17So, the choice between open air farming and greenhouse is not harmless.
08:22It has an impact on quality, it has an impact on your ability to pass your tractor in your field,
08:31and it's very expensive.
08:33So, we believe that Biennésis can bring a new asset class between open air farming and greenhouse, and completely revolutionize
08:43the way we do agriculture,
08:45with, finally, the way to protect against climate hazards the benefits of the greenhouse without its inconvenience.
08:54And we would be able with this to tackle, to keep our agriculture climate resilient and sustainable for the next
09:04decades to come.
09:08So, I'm going to close this. And, yeah, if you are a grower, we started deploying this in 15 vineyards
09:19all across France, in Bordeaux, in Burgundy, with top estates,
09:22but also with smaller ones who are innovators at the frontier of innovation and who want to propose quality.
09:31We have started expanding in Italy. We are exploring the USA.
09:35So, please feel free to come and talk to me after the conference so that we can discuss more deeply
09:42how it works and how we can install it on your crops.
09:46Thank you very much.
09:47Thank you very much.
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