Crop.Zone electrophysical weeder enters European markets
Entering a strategic partnership with GSI GmbH, a joint seed fund of the Aachen University and the Aachen Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the start-up Crop.Zone now receives funding to enter the agriculture market in Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany.
Crop.Zone specialises in the field of weed management and pre-harvest preparation of crops, providing farmers with innovative solutions to control weeds in a competitive, effective, and sustainable way.
Electrophysical weeder
By pre-treating plants with an organically regulated conductive liquid (Volt.Fuel) and sequentially applying electrical charge with the help of an electrophysical weeder, the company says it helps control weeds with a very high degree of efficiency and lower energy consumption than conventional weeding technologies.
As a pilot project of the RWTH Aachen University Innovation Sprint, Crop.Zone received financial support during the critical validation phase to develop and build a working prototype of their electrophysical weeder in combination with Volt.Fuel, the conductive fluid. The RWTH Innovation Sprint is a financing measure offered by RWTH Aachen University and managed by RWTH Innovation within the “Excellence Start-up Center.NRW” initiative.
Prototype tested by farmers
Three months after their participation in the pilot phase of the RWTH Innovation Sprint, Crop.Zone had a finished prototype that has since been tested in collaboration with farmers around Aachen. The commercial product that resulted from this testing will soon be put to use in a groundbreaker early adopters program in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands for the entire 2021 season.
“We are delighted to have found a strategic partner with roots in RWTH Aachen, helping us to adopt the latest technologies and bring them to market. The investment of GSI will be used to extend our patent portfolio and will be invested into further R&D,” said Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO of Crop.Zone.
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