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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

CropX

NASA Harvest Partners with CropX to Combine Soil Monitoring and Satellite Data

NASA’s Food Security and Agriculture Program, NASA Harvest, and soil analytics company CropX announced a partnership today that will provide insights into soil conditions around the planet to support more sustainable agriculture with higher yields.

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, the CropX platform combines hardware sensors that are screwed into the ground with a cloud-based analytics platform. The combined hardware and software analyzes soil moisture, temperature and salinity to help farmers better manage watering and fertilizer application.

The partnership with NASA Harvest will combine CropX’s earthbound technology with NASA’s network of Earth-observing satellites. By marrying underground data with aerial imagery and information, NASA Harvest plans to provide new insights around soil health to governments and farmers around the world.

According to a press release emailed to The Spoon, NASA has already deployed CropX technology across a group of alfalfa farms in Arizona. Over a year-long pilot program that integrates NASA satellite data and synthetic aperture radar, NASA Harvest will be able to establish parameters for water usage estimates, yield prediction, soil quality and land usage assessment based on crop growing cycles.

The race is on to figure out how the world will sustainably feed 9 billion people by the year 2050. Thankfully there are a number of startups tackling the problem from a number of different angles. Companies like Apeel are helping extend the shelf life of products. There is an entire sector of cell-based meat startups working to feed us cultured protein instead of devoting so many resources to raising animals. And partnerships like the one between CropX and NASA Harvest can help spur the adoption of more precision agriculture to reduce waste in the growing process.

Soil Sensor Company CropX Acquires Irrigation Tools Provider CropMetrics

CropX, which makes sensors to monitor soil conditions on farms, announced today that it has acquired cloud-based irrigation management tool company CropMetrics. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Nebraska-based CropMetrics uses a combination of soil sensors and cloud-based analytics to develop real-time irrigation plans for farmers based on current conditions. CropMetrics has been around for 10 years and manages half a million acres of U.S. farmland .

As we’ve written before, CropX has it’s own digital soil monitoring system for farmers:

There are two components to the CropX product: a hardware sensor and cloud-based software. The CropX sensor is a screw-shaped device that farmers literally screw into the ground. This screw shape is actually one of the ways CropX differentiates itself in the soil analyzing space because the threads of the device give it more surface area than straight tube-shaped sensors. Placing sensors on the threads of a CropX allows water to pass through the sensor not just around it.

As water passes through these sensors, information is sent up to the cloud where CropX’s software analyzes the soil for moisture levels, temperature and electroconductivity to determine salinity levels. Results are sent to a mobile app where the farmer can better manage nutrient management and fertilizer application.

CropX also incorporates aerial imagery, weather data and topography maps to help analyze conditions and advise farmers on appropriate actions for their particular plots of land. The promise of IoT tools like CropX and CropMetrics is their ability to provide data to farmers so they can waste less water, use less fertilizer and better optimize their food growing operations.

There are actually a few soil sensors competing for a place on the farm. Teralytics monitors nitrogen, phosphate and potassium levels in the soil for precise fertilizing, and Arable measures both soil moisture as well as ambient temperatures around the crops.

CropX, which is based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, raised $10 million in August of last year, and has raised nearly $30 million in total. CropMetrics has raised just $1.5 million. CropX said the acquisition will expand its U.S. footprint and product offerings.

CropX Raises $10M for its Soil Sensor and Analytics Platform

CropX, a Tel-Aviv based soil analytics startup, announced today that it has raised $10 million in new funding (h/t Axios Pro Rata). According to the press announcement new investors include strategic partner Sumitomo Corporation Europe, Armada Investments and TaL Capital, which joined existing investors such as Finistere Ventures, Germin8 Ventures, GreenSoil Investments, Innovation Endeavors and OurCrowd. This brings the total amount raised by CropX to $22.9 million.

There are two components to the CropX product: a hardware sensor and cloud-based software. The CropX sensor is a screw-shaped device that farmers literally screw into the ground. This screw shape is actually one of the ways CropX differentiates itself in the soil analyzing space because the threads of the device give it more surface area than straight tube-shaped sensors. Placing sensors on the threads of a CropX allows water to pass through the sensor not just around it.

As water passes through these sensors, information is sent up to the cloud where CropX’s software analyzes the soil for moisture levels, temperature and electroconductivity to determine salinity levels. Results are sent to a mobile app where the farmer can better manage nutrient management and fertilizer application.

But the bigger play for CropX is data. As we wrote last year:

Sensors cost from $600 to $899 apiece and there is a $275 yearly subscription per sensor. Farmers own their own data, and anything CropX learns is anonymous and on an aggregate basis. But it’s these data insights that are the real play for CropX. [CropX CEO Tomar] Tzach wouldn’t go into specifics but said that eventually, the company will be able to “provide significant data to other industries and geographies.”

CropX is among a, well, crop of companies looking to give farmers greater insight into their dirt. Other players in the soil sensing space include Teralytic and Arable.

As part of today’s announcement, CropX also said that it has brought on John Vikupitz as its new president, where he will focus on scaling the company.

CropX Makes Soil Sensors to Measure Moisture, Gets Investment from ICL

Though CropX’s soil moisture measuring sensors are prominently displayed as the main product on the company’s homepage, CropX CEO Tomer Tzach’s ambitions are much bigger. “We want to be the Nest of agriculture,” Tzach told me, referring to the smart home thermostat company that Google bought for $3.2 billion in 2014.

Just as Nest thermostats provided Google with valuable data, CropX sensors are a gateway for valuable agricultural insights.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, CropX makes sensors that farmers can literally screw into the ground, making for super easy self-installation. According to Tzach, the screw-like shape of CropX actually makes their product better than other soil sensors on the market. The sensors are embedded along the “threads” protruding from the shaft of the device embedded in the soil. Because of this placement, water can pass through the sensor. Tzach says other sensors are just tubes that go straight into the ground, and the narrower footprint creates a less accurate reading.

On average, one CropX sensor can cover 40 acres, and using topographic and USDA data, the company can tell a farmer the optimal spots to plant their sensors. Once installed, each sensor communicates via cellular networks directly with the CropX software in the cloud, which analyzes the sensor’s readings. Farmers download a smartphone app and receive notifications about field conditions so they can maintain optimal soil moisture levels.

The sensors also measure temperature and electroconductivity in the soil to determine salinity levels, which can help farmers with nutrient management and fertilizer application.

The result of all this monitoring, according to CropX, is healthier crops and improved yields for farms.

Sensors cost from $600 to $899 apiece and there is a $275 yearly subscription per sensor. Farmers own their own data, and anything CropX learns is anonymous and on an aggregate basis. But it’s these data insights that are the real play for CropX. Tzach wouldn’t go into specifics but said that eventually, the company will be able to “provide significant data to other industries and geographies.”

Perhaps pointing to one such industry, just yesterday it was announced that ICL, a global fertilizer company, made an investment in and formed a strategic partnership with CropX. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

CropX does have some competition; there are quite a few sensors options and data generating platforms currently available to farmers. Teralytic‘s soil sensors help farmers manage fertilizer use (and monitor moisture), and Arable‘s Mark packs in 40 sensors to monitor moisture, ambient temperatures and more.

This raises the question, how many sensors and accompanying dashboards does a farmer need–or want? Pretty soon we’ll get the data on that.