Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Teralytic

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.

Teralytic Sensors Help Farmers Manage Their Fertilizing

“Nanofabrication” is probably not the first word that comes to mind when you think of farming or agriculture. But it’s how Teralytic builds a wireless sensor that detects nitrogen, phosphate and potassium (NPK) levels in soil to help farmers reduce waste and improve their yields.

The Teralytic sensor is a battery-powered, meter long device that farmers stick in the ground. Packed inside are 26 different sensors that measure the surrounding soil’s NPK levels, pH levels, soil moisture, temperature, and aeration, as well as the temperature and humidity above ground.

Once set, the sensors take a snapshot of soil conditions every fifteen minutes and use LoRa wireless technology to broadcast data back to a base station and through to an online analytics dashboard. Teralytic Founder and CEO Steven Ridder notes that technology has provided farmers with tons of data, and “The challenge for farmers is that too much information has confused them more than helped them.” Ridder says Teralytic’s stripped down dashboard has a more “farmer friendly interface.”

Armed with this data, farmers can be more efficient with their inputs (like fertilizer) and generate better crop yields. Optimizing fertilizer can also help farmers reduce cost and avoid over-fertilization, thus reducing excess fertilizer runoff and greenhouse gas release.

Teralytic sensors also measure soil moisture levels, which can help farmers with water management and prevent overwatering. Ridder says this improved moisture data can also help farmers make better-informed sales decisions. As he describes it, non-irrigated Midwest crops are planted in May and farmers typically check their soils in July. During that check, farmers may note that surface soil is dry. Historically, they wouldn’t be able to see that, down by the roots, moisture levels were actually fine. But because they didn’t have accurate data, Ridder says farmers had a tendency to panic about crop yields and settle for a lower locked in price before the harvest.

Each Teralytic sensor costs $100, plus a per acre charge. The number of sensors required depends on the type of crop grown. Ridder told me “Strawberries and avocados will need a sensor every 2.5 – 10 acres. Most grain crops will need a sensor every 30 – 50 acres. Cotton and canola need one every 50 – 70 acres.” The company has an online tool to help farmers determine the number of sensors needed.

Teralytic isn’t alone in bringing robust data to farms. Arable has developed the Mark sensor, which includes acoustic and spectrometer measuring, and can be sent placed in fields to assist with crop management.

What sets Teralytic apart, says Ridder, is his company’s focus on soil measurements and NPK. Teralytics says it offers “the world’s first wireless NPK sensor.” The company has eight Ph.D.’s developing the product, split between New York City and the UC Berkeley nanofabrication lab, who are creating the proprietary chipset that powers Teralytic’s sensors. They’re so secret that Ridder wouldn’t talk about them.

Teralytic launched a year and a half ago and raised a $2.25 million seed round in August of last year. It has conducted pilot projects in California and Ridder says they have 150 additional clients that want to conduct their own pilot programs starting in April. The company will officially debut on March 20th.