Author: Anthony James

Farmonaut, an Indian start-up offering satellite-based crop health monitoring, has partnered with Godrej Agrovet to help map over 15,000 farmer fields and capture relevant, farm-level data. Godrej has already mapped over 2,500 hectares contributing to approximately 1,400 field pieces. The company aims to map over 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) by the end of the current month to monitor crop health, water stress, evapotranspiration, soil organic carbon, weather forecasting, etc, using the technology provided by Farmonaut. “Farmonaut has made geotagging farmer fields more streamlined and a faster process,” said Ankur Omar, Farmonaut’s founder & CEO. “Our interconnected app ecosystem enables our…

First launched in 2019, Optiweigh, an automated in-paddock weighing system that provides livestock farmers with a smart, fast, reliable and cost-effective method to remotely monitor and measure the weight of livestock in their mobs, is now available across every state in Australia. In commercial cattle operations, monitoring the weight of animals regularly is crucial to optimising profitability and costs. Regular weighing helps farmers decide when to sell cattle to achieve the target weight and avoid penalties, as well as optimise the feeding regime, which is a major cost of the operation. Traditionally, weighing cattle is a manual and time-consuming process,…

The Climate Corporation, Bayer’s digital farming arm, and Horsch, a leading manufacturer of on-farm technology, have begun working together to provide farmers around the world with new ways to connect their Horsch seeders, planters and other implements to the Climate FieldView™ platform, making it easier for them to apply digital tools and data science to their farming operations. Horsch customers using FieldView currently have broad connectivity through the Climate FieldView Drive device, which plugs into a diagnostic port in their tractor cab and uses bluetooth technology to stream agronomic data from their Horsch equipment, before being synced with their FieldView…

A new fertile strip tilling application is being trialled at the Ottawa Smart Farm, which brings together autonomous systems, sensors, IoT technologies, telecommunications, big data, analytics, robotics, drones and CAVs in a bid to accelerate Canadian agtech innovation Described as a “futureplex of innovation and collaboration” and “the first of its kind in Canada” at its launch in October 2019, following a US$23 million investment, the Ottawa Smart Farm offers innovators in the agtech space a means to supercharge their R&D programs and fast track the commercialisation of new products and services. A key component within the capital city’s wider…

Autonomous fruit-picking robots could help solve endemic labour shortages that have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. With this in mind, Kubota is investing US$20 million in Tevel Aerobotics Technologies, an industry leader in the flying, autonomous fruit-picking robot harvesting segment. Founded in 2017 in Israel, Tevel is developing autonomous flying robots for fruit picking and is combining artificial intelligence with computer vision, advanced robotics, aeronautical engineering, state-of-the-art flight control and data fusion and perception. Every year, over 800 million tonnes of fruit are produced in an area of 70 million hectares worldwide, representing an annual market value of…

A more sustainable method of weed control will soon be available to farmers looking to reduce their use of harmful plant protection products. The innovative technology, developed by German agtech start-up crop.zone, controls weeds with an electrical charge. It is being introduced, tested and further developed in Switzerland for the first time by Swiss cooperative fenaco, following the conclusion of a cooperation agreement. The collaboration will see fenaco take responsibility for introducing the solution to the Swiss market, specifically adapting it to meet conditions on the ground, and ensuring appropriate scientific supervision. As a result, farmers interested in learning more…

Texas-based Verano365 has launched a new adjuvant that improves fertiliser efficiency, benefitting greenhouse growers’ return on investments in applied nutrient inputs. Evofactor uses the company’s proprietary technology, OpusMAX, to promote nutrient availability to plants when it is used with water-soluble fertilisers as part of a regular fertigation schedule. OpusMAX is a first-of-its-kind delivery system that is anchored by a charged particle, according to the company. This particle has an attraction force that acts as a host or carrier, which facilitates the self-assembly of supramolecular structures. When OpusMAX localises active chemical or biological molecules into these structures, the impacts are gains…

Californian agtech firm Bear Flag Robotics has raised US$7.9 million in a seed extension funding round led by True Ventures, taking its total revenue raised to date to US$12.5 million. The company is developing autonomous technology for farm tractors, which it says will enable growers to increase productivity and improve safety on their farms. True Ventures led the round with participation from Graphene Ventures, AgFunder, D20 and Green Cow VC. Founded in 2017 by Igino Cafiero and Aubrey Donnellan, Bear Flag hopes to increase global food production, while decreasing the cost of growing food through machine automation. It notes that…

DeHaat, a technology-based platform offering end-to-end agricultural services to farmers in India, has raised US$30 million in Series C funding, led by Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures). RTP Global co-invested in the round with participation from existing investors, Sequoia India, FMO, Omnivore & AgFunder. Based in Gurgaon and Patna, the DeHaat platform is a one-stop destination for small farmers for all their agricultural needs, including distribution of high-quality agricultural inputs, customized farm advisory, access to financial services, and market linkages for selling their produce. Digital access Currently operating across Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha, DeHaat provides farmers with access…

Loughborough University spinout Zayndu Ltd has launched Aurora Z10, which it claims is the world’s first ‘activated air’ seed sterilisation system. The new seed cleaning solution debuts at the ‘Keeping it clean with agri-tech innovation’ Agri-TechE event*, being staged online today. The system provides a dry alternative to chemical treatment or washing. It enables high-value seeds such as tomato or fast-growing seeds like rocket – to be disinfected for the first time. Seed cleaning reduces the pathogen load on the seed and protects the soil from contamination with seedborne fungal infection. However, many of the chemicals widely used for disinfection…