Sustainable Oils, Inc: Revolutionizing Agricultural Operations with IoT and Cloud

Executive Summary

Sustainable Oils is the world’s leading camelina seed company, utilized in renewable diesel production.  Sustainable Oils’ camelina has become the crop feedstock of choice for renewable diesel.  This high-demand drop-in fuel meets all the specifications for modern engines and performs on par with petroleum-based diesel.  Notably, Sustainable Oils’ camelina varieties are the only ones approved for the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), underscoring their significance in advancing sustainable fuel solutions.  Sustainable Oils embarked on an ambitious mission to adopt innovative agricultural practices, including implementing intermediate crops, no-till farming, soil quality enhancement, on-site carbon storage, and nutrient management.  These innovative methods are estimated to yield significant results:

• 1,400 lbs./acre of harvest, translating to an additional revenue stream of $420/acre through no-till practices on previously idle land.
• 70 gallons/acre of renewable diesel production.
• 70% reduction in land erosion.
• 20% reduction in nutrient loss.
• 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
• 2 tons/acre/year increase in carbon capture, totaling 35,000 tons over five years.
• 5 tons/acre increase in soil biomass, equating to 87,500 tons over five years.

The foundation of this initiative is a cutting-edge data analytics capability that integrates various data streams from Sustainable Oil’s fields, using sophisticated models to monitor performance metrics. This integration was particularly challenging due to the dispersed nature of Sustainable Oil’s USDA, spanning over 70+ growers across five agroclimatic regions, with data provided by 16 different vendors.

Conventional data integration technology could not scale to meet the geospatial and temporal demands or the required latency and volume.  To address this, Sustainable Oils partnered with DeepIQ to deploy the DataStudio platform on AWS.  This advanced data integration system centralized and structured data collection, facilitating comprehensive analysis and enhancing decision-making processes.  The outcome was improved efficiency, reduced operational costs, and data-driven decision-making.

DeepIQ’s DataStudio platform allowed Sustainable Oils to unify disparate data types into a multimodal data lake, ensuring seamless information flow across all operational levels.  Key features of the platform include:

• Efficient management of high-frequency sensor data.
• Consolidation of diverse geospatial data formats.
• Standardization of incoming data.

DeepIQ also implements its intuitive natural language interface, enabling agronomists and operational managers to query data easily.  This feature accelerates insights and facilitates real-time decision-making.

Implementing DeepIQ DataStudio has significantly enhanced Sustainable Oils’ return on investment by aligning with sustainability objectives, improving regulatory compliance, and supporting advanced analytics to transform data into actionable insights.  Through these practices, Sustainable Oils is helping growers adapt to varying climatic conditions while contributing to broader environmental objectives.  As the initiative progresses, it continues to advance sustainability in the agricultural sector, with ongoing efforts to refine practices and maximize positive impacts on the environment and agricultural productivity.  The project remains a work in progress, with further improvements anticipated as additional data is gathered and analyzed, driving continuous enhancement and long-term success in sustainable farming

Introduction

Sustainable Oils Inc., founded in 2013, is a pioneering company specializing in developing camelina, a non-food-based ultra-low carbon biofuel feedstock.  The company boasts an industry-leading portfolio of technologies dedicated to producing proprietary camelina varieties.  Sustainable Oils innovative approach places it at the forefront of the biofuel sector, focusing on sustainability and the efficient production of biofuel feedstocks that contribute to reducing carbon emissions.

Sustainable Oils partnered with DeepIQ to address the challenges of integrating and analyzing data from diverse business and IoT sources for its operational needs. Sustainable Oils needed a sophisticated data platform to unify data from weather stations, soil probes, and satellite imagery, among other sources. The goal was to create a centralized, structured data system to streamline data collection, facilitate comprehensive analysis, and enhance decision-making processes.  By leveraging DeepIQ’s advanced data integration capabilities, Sustainable Oils aimed to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and support data-driven decisions for future growth and sustainability.

Challenges Faced by Sustainable Oils

Sustainable Oils faced several significant challenges:

• Data Integration: Sustainable Oils needed to integrate data from various sources, including weather stations, soil probes, satellite imagery, and other multimodal data. This data was supplied by and 16 different vendor systems and 3rd party sources, making integration complex and cumbersome.
• Data Centralization: The lack of a centralized data system led to fragmented data collection and analysis processes. Sustainable Oils required a unified platform to streamline data collection and ensure consistency across all operational levels.
• Comprehensive Analysis: The diversity of data formats, including high-frequency sensor data and various geospatial data formats, necessitated time series and machine learning methods to convert this data into actionable insights.
• Operational Efficiency: Inefficiencies in data handling and analysis processes hamper operational decision-making and increase costs. Sustainable Oils needed a solution that could enhance efficiency and reduce operational expenses.
• Scalability and Maintenance: The existing systems were not scalable and required significant IT maintenance. Sustainable Oils needed a solution to scale seamlessly with increased data loads without performance loss and minimal IT overhead.
• Compliance and Reporting: Meeting agricultural regulations and generating accurate reports on farming activities and resource usage were challenging with the current data management practices.

By addressing these challenges, Sustainable Oils aimed to improve efficiency, support data-driven decision-making, and align with sustainability goals.

DeepIQ’s Solution

DeepIQ’s solution for Sustainable Oils involved implementing their advanced DataStudio platform on AWS, which provided comprehensive data integration and analytics capabilities.