Steering the Future of (Tomatoes) Agriculture with New Tools

Agriculture is undergoing a profound transformation in response to accelerating environmental, social, and economic pressures. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and the need for sustainable resource management are reshaping both production systems and policy priorities. However, the instruments traditionally used to assess agricultural performance—such as yield, productivity, or income—are increasingly insufficient to capture the complexity of this transition. New forms of agriculture, grounded in sustainability, resilience, and innovation, demand equally new tools and metrics capable of guiding and evaluating change. Developing such measures is essential not only for tracking progress but also for steering decision-making toward practices that sustain ecosystems, rural livelihoods, and food security in the long term.

The Role of Photonics in Advancing Sustainable Agriculture

Photonics, the science and technology of light, is reshaping the way agricultural systems are monitored, managed, and optimized (Jones et al., 2022). Among its diverse applications, Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has emerged as one of the most powerful non-destructive analytical tools for agricultural analysis. Beyond enhancing productivity and input efficiency, photonics offers a transformative approach to measuring and monitoring agricultural sustainability Spectroscopic techniques—ranging from NIR and mid-infrared to hyperspectral and fluorescence imaging—enable the non-invasive quantification of critical biophysical and biochemical indicators such as soil organic carbon, nitrogen dynamics, water-use efficiency, and plant stress responses These optical signals capture subtle variations in reflectance or absorbance linked to physiological and ecological processes, providing early detection of stress, degradation, or nutrient imbalance before they become visually apparent. When integrated with remote sensing platforms such as drones and satellites, photonic data yield spatially explicit and temporally consistent insights into ecosystem functioning and management impacts across landscapes. This integration of photonics into sustainability assessment represents a paradigm shift: it enables agricultural transitions to be guided by robust, real-time, and scientifically grounded evidence. As such, photonic sensing constitutes a cornerstone of the new generation of tools required to steer agricultural systems toward greater resilience, resource efficiency, and environmental integrity.

Economic Barriers to Adoption of NIR Technologies

Despite the significant potential of Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to enhance decision-making and sustainability in agriculture, its widespread adoption among farmers remains limited, largely due to economic constraints. The initial cost of NIR instruments—ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars depending on precision, portability, and spectral resolution—constitutes a major barrier, particularly for small and medium-scale producers (Rodríguez-Pérez et al., 2021). In addition to the purchase price, associated expenses for calibration, maintenance, and data interpretation further increase the financial burden. Many farmers also lack access to technical expertise and support infrastructure necessary to fully exploit the technology’s potential. Consequently, while NIR spectroscopy offers clear advantages in terms of speed, accuracy, and non-destructive analysis, its high cost and technical complexity continue to limit its appropriation in the field, underscoring the need for more affordable, user-friendly, and context-adapted solutions to enable broader diffusion.

Senseen and its Nutriscope revolutionise access to photonics for crop health and nutritional quality

Senseen (www.senseen.io) developed a low-cost, pocket-sized photonic scanning device (named the “Nutriscope™”) aimed at giving farmers direct access to advanced light-based analytical tools. The Nutriscope allows users to “Scan. Analyse. Act.” by measuring plant health parameters (redox, pH, conductivity, chlorophyll, stress indices) and nutrient/oligo-element profiles (N total, NH₄⁺, P, K, Ca, S, Mg, Cl, Zn, Fe, Cu, SiO₂, and soon Mn & B) in their crops.

What sets Senseen apart is its ambition to democratize photonic sensing by making these technologies affordable and accessible:

• The devices act as a “laboratory and agronomic advisor in your pocket”.
• The  cost “<1k €” for scanners able to measure nutrition in plants and foods
• Combined with an app and decision-support portal, the system is built to be user friendly – the farmer doesn’t need to become a spectroscopy expert.

Figure 1: the Senseen Nutriscope

The value proposition is compelling: by putting a non-destructive photonic sensing tool directly into the hands of farmers, Senseen aims to reduce dependency on lab analyses, enable real-time monitoring in the field, and support decision-making for nutrient management, plant health and agroecological practices. Their tagline emphasises supporting “another agriculture” — one that monitors plant and soil health easily, acts for resilience, and limits inputs and pesticides.

Senseen exemplifies how innovative photonics plus AI and mobile connectivity can lower the barrier to advanced sensing in agriculture—making what once was expensive, bulky and expert-only into a tool for everyday farm use. Senseen combines many innovations such as adding photonics bands (UV-VIS-NIR) to be more reactive, breakdown the cost by integrating cheap LEDs ( ie 44) and pushing the interpretation of light responses with IA.

Figure 2: scanning tomato leaves in the field by Sonito

Using the Nutriscope in the Tomatoes field

Spectroscopy uses the molecular fingerprint of the matter to give data, the energy absorbance to the reaction. We use then chemometrics science to analyze complex spectroscopic data. It helps extract meaningful information (the “real value”).  We develop prediction model crop by crop as each crop has a different molecular structure. In 2025 thanks to cooperation with the tomatoes cooperative,  Paysans de Rougeline,  as well as Sonito, the French tomato industry association, we succeeded in calibrating tomatoes. Today, we can instantly obtain minerals and trace elements with a single click on the leaf.

Figure 3: getting instant measures minerals and trace elements on the phone

Paving the way to nutritional quality

The Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) has been pioneering efforts to measure and improve the nutritional quality of food through the development and use of the Bionutrient Meter. This handheld device uses light spectroscopy to assess the density of nutrients in crops directly in the field or marketplace. The Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) began its nutrient density research initiative and early Bionutrient Meter development around 2016, with field trials and data collection on crops like tomatoes starting in 2018.

By 2019, BFA had conducted one of its most significant tomato studies, gathering samples from farms and markets across the United States to correlate Bionutrient Meter readings with laboratory nutrient analyses (including Brix, polyphenols, and antioxidants). This 2019 dataset played a key role in refining the calibration models for tomatoes, making them one of the first and most well-characterized crops in the BFA’s nutrient density research program. The Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) has conducted extensive research on tomatoes as one of its primary crops for testing the Bionutrient Meter and nutrient density correlations. Their experience showed that tomatoes grown in biologically rich, well-managed soils tended to have higher levels of antioxidants, polyphenols, and Brix (a measure of sugars and dissolved solids)—key indicators of flavor and nutrient density. The Bionutrient Meter was able to detect these variations non-destructively by measuring light reflectance patterns, which correlated with lab data for compounds like lycopene and vitamin C.

Through this work, the BFA demonstrated that nutritional quality in tomatoes can vary dramatically—sometimes by more than tenfold—depending on growing practices and soil health. The project helped refine the calibration models for the meter, improving its accuracy and expanding its potential use by farmers and consumers seeking to identify and reward truly nutrient-dense produce.

Figure 4: measuring Brix from puree at Sonito lab.

Today, the bionutrient meter is no longer maintained, but it has demonstrated the capabilities of this type of device with 10 wavelengths/10 LEDs. The Senseen Nutricope has many more LEDs (44) and is capable of offering the same functionality, but a lack of interest prevents any cooperation and support for laboratory calibration. We hope that this issue will be resolved soon.
In the meantime, current partners such as Paysans de Rougeline and Sonito are helping to calibrate the device for Brix and other parameters.

With the Paysans  de Rougeline we succeeded in obtaining the Brix directly on the fruit and with Sonito we are exploring use of a new wide-beam device called Nutriscope XL in order to obtain more parameters.

Figure 5: measuring Brix on the fruit directly (Paysans de Rougeline)

We have demonstrated the ability to access real-time data from tomato fields, enabling more sustainable practices for monitoring plant health with just one click. This empowers farmers to take timely action for more resilient crops—reducing inputs and pesticide use, supporting agroecology, and helping restore ecosystems.

With these new insights, we can better understand crop dynamics. The next step is to gain experience in turning this data into actionable intelligence through a true decision-support system. This is the new challenge Senseen is addressing with its “crop advisor in your pocket.”

There remains much to learn about the relationship between agronomic practices and nutritional quality—an area highlighted by the Bionutrient Food Association and one that deserves further exploration.

Acknowledgment

We like to thank Paysans de Rougeline and Sonito for their help in making our tool available in the Tomato field.