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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

precision agriculture

Agtech Startup Nordetect Wins €10,000 Prize for Portable Nutrient Sensor

There are plenty of reasons food producers are considering indoor agriculture these days, including the potential for better crops and yields thanks to tech integrations and the ability to keep farm workers safer (ie, not laboring in the thick of wildfire smoke). However, to make indoor farming as efficient as possible, and thereby cut down on food waste, more precision around plant nutrients, water, and other elements is needed.

Denmark-based startup Nordetect is one such company tackling this challenge. The precision-agriculture-focused company just nabbed the top spot (and €10,000) of agtech company Priva’s recent Horti Heroes challenge, which showcased companies innovating in the horticulture space.

Nordetect, which is also a part of the SOSV portfolio, won the challenge for its portable device that measures nutrients in soil, water, and plant tissue so growers can more precisely use fertilizer in crops and get better yields and less waste.

On its website, Nordetect says this nanosensor can be used on anything from leaf samples to soil to manure. The system also integrates with any existing software the farm might be using, and a built in GPS keeps track of where each sample is located in the field or farm. A major differentiator Nordetect offers is its ability to measure nutrients within minutes, as opposed to the traditional process that can take weeks.

Speaking in today’s press release, Nordetect CEO Keenan Pinto said the company’s target market was high-value crop space — that is, areas that grow crops like leafy greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers. “These are crops that have a nutrient requirement change between their vegetative and generative phases… and if you can get the fertilization correct, you can also achieve a significantly higher flower rate and yield,“ he said.

Many indoor farms, whether tech-enabled greenhouses or vertical farms, now grow those crops. At the same time, the number of these indoor farming facilities keeps rising and their locations include everywhere from isolated warehouses to grocery store parking lots to food desserts. 

Priva is something of a heavyweight in the world of indoor farming, which means its awarding of the prize to Nordetect and subsequent partnership with the company will lead to further technological innovation around precision agriculture inside the above farming locations.  

Arable Launches New Mark 2 Sensor to Monitor Climate and Plant Conditions on Farms

Agtech company Arable today announced a new version of its sensor along with a suite of tools to help farmers and food producers monitor and collect data about soil and weather conditions on their land.

At the heart of Arable’s solution is its new Mark 2, the second generation of its solar-powered, connected sensor. Once installed, the Mark 2 sits above the plant canopy and measures 40 different elements like rain, solar radiation, canopy cover, crop water demand, and environmental stresses.

The Mark 2 can be used as part of the company’s new Arable Forecasting product, also announced today. Arable Forecasting combines data from the Mark 2 with third-party weather data and machine learning to provide hyperlocal weather forecasting. This means growers can monitor micro-climates across vast grow areas, and take specific actions on a more granular level.

Arable Labs - Decision Agriculture

Along with the new sensor and Arable Forecasting, the company also announced:

  • Arable Bridge, which integrates data from auxiliary sensors like soil moisture probes, pressure switches and wind speed monitors into the Mark 2.
  • Arable Open, an open-source API for external platform interoperability.
  • Arable Mobile, a cloud-based platform for crop consultants, farmers and food processors.

Arable is among a number of startups promising to deliver more precise, data-driven agriculture. Other players in the space include CropX, a soil sensor company that acquired irrigation management tool company CropMetrics earlier this year; Terralytic, a soil sensor that monitors nitrogen, phosphate and potassium; and Taranis, which uses aerial imagery to detect crop stresses.

Arable’s Mark 2 is already available to order on the company’s website for $1,595 plus a $699 per year subscription. According to today’s press announcement, Arable has been used in 37 countries across six continents by companies like BASF, Netafim, and Treasury Wine Estates.

FarmBot Nasa

FarmBot Wants to Cultivate an Open-Source Future for Remote Farming

“Farm from anywhere” is a phrase we’re likely to hear more and more of as technology enables easier access to fresh, locally grown food. We just wrote about Babylon Micro-Farms, a remote, hydroponic farm you can keep inside your living room. There’s also a healthy urban farming market: thanks to companies like Farmshelf and Smallhold, restaurants, schools, and the average consumer get better access to fresh food and more involved in the food production itself.

But no one’s tackled the reinvention of farming quite like the folks at FarmBot.

FarmBot is basically precision agriculture for the people. When he launched the FarmBot project in 2011, founder Rory Aronson wanted to find a way to bring the benefits of remote farming to the everyman without the hefty price tag.

Precision agriculture normally involves technology like self-steering tractors and aerial drones that can make better use of resources. Because the method uses real-time data to understand weather, air quality, labor costs, and other factors, growers can make smarter decisions about how much and how often to employ resources. As its name suggests, precision agriculture provides meticulous records of every single step of the growing process.

Historically, it’s been the territory of industrial farmers. But thanks to Aronson, anyone with a little space and (considerably less) cash can get involved in food production.

Both FarmBot products, made up of cartesean coordinate robots along with software and documentation, can work on rooftops, in backyards, and can accommodate both small- and large-scale farming operations. It’s unclear whether the company means “farm from anywhere” literally, as it says on its website. But considering the highly customizable nature of the product, anyone with some tech know-how could theoretically hack the bot and make it work in any given climate.

A visual interface lets you “plan your garden like a videogame,” according to the company’s website. So the fact that the interface looks a bit like FarmVille is no coincidence. You can drag and drop plants into the virtual plot of land (below), build care regiments, and even scare away birds.

After the garden is planned, the machine plants seeds, measures soil moisture content and water, and can detect and destroy weeds. Email alerts tell a user when the crops are ready for harvest.

It’s also open source, including the hardware, software, and documentation. That means all design files, source code, and hardware specs are available for free on the company’s website, so anyone can customize their farm without having to fork over a bunch of extra money.

Right now, the FarmBot Genesis goes for $2,595 via the company’s website. The FarmBot Genesis XL, which is available for preorder, costs $3,295 and covers “421 percent the area of for just 38% more cost.” Shipments of both machines are expected to go out in May of this year.

Aronson would eventually like to get the price point down to $1,000. It’s unclear whether that will happen soon or if it’s some ways off. Meanwhile, FarmBot is making its way into universities and non-profits, and the company is working with NASA to develop open-source food production on Mars, the Moon, and deep space. Remote farming indeed.

All images courtesy of FarmBot.