15 start-ups in the spotlight at World Agri-Tech

At the upcoming World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in San Francisco (March 19-20), 15 dynamic international start-ups will take the spotlight. These start-ups will present solutions ranging from soil health, crop optimisation, fertilisers and healthy biotics, to precision irrigation, insect monitoring, off road automation, AI and digitised farming operations.

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The World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit takes place twice per year in San Francisco and London, generating opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange and deal-making among its international delegation of agribusinesses, technology providers, entrepreneurs and investors. – Photos: World Agri-Tech Summit

Start-ups at World Agri-Tech:

Aerobotics (South Africa) provides tree crop and vineyard protection to growers around the globe, through artificial intelligence. The Aerobotics Aeroview platform uses drone and satellite imagery to facilitate early problem detection and alerts. Aerobotics has processed over 13 million trees to-date.

AgroCares (the Netherlands) delivers data solutions to measure nutrients and other key parameters in soil, feed and leaf. It aims to provide the world’s farming community with accessible, affordable data-based precision farming tools to extensively and sustainably increase crop yields.

Atmonia (Iceland) is developing an electro-catalytic process for generating aqueous ammonia from air and water, for direct use as fertiliser through irrigation. The Atmonia process, unlike conventional ammonia production, claims to have zero emissions and works at ambient pressure and temperature and is based on economical and abundant catalysts.

Bontera BioAg (USA) has a mission to transform agriculture on a global scale through state-of-the-art sustainable technologies. Its products are based on naturally occurring soil microbes selected for superior performance and functionality. These specialised microbes are the catalysts for disease prevention, optimal soil fertility and increased crop yield.

Cattle Care (USA) applies AI video analytics to increase dairy farmers’ revenue and make cows healthier at the same time. The product identifies cows in the barn by their unique black and white patterns. Using low-cost commodity video cameras Cattle Care detects, recognises and tracks every cow as well as business processes, and makes decisions for the farmer about the treatment of a particular cow or a whole barn.

Dynium Robot (UK) is launching in the US in 2019. Precision farming technologies have previously been beyond the reach of orchards because of the inability of aerial imagery to detect diseases below the canopy. Using Dynium’s advanced vision and LiDAR based driverless navigation system, orchard farmers can fully automate crop care and capture data below the canopy 24/7. Coupled with Dynium’s cloud-based crop analytics, farmers can apply precision farming techniques to reduce spraying costs and crop losses.

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INTERVIEW: @vonnie_estes, VP of Technology @pma tells us why advancing #agrifood #technologies for growers is vital. Look out for Vonnie speaking about 'Growers at the Front Line of AgTech' @WorldAgriTech San Francisco, March 20. https://t.co/TzUajJOjTm. pic.twitter.com/7Vi4AnkcX4

— World Agri-Tech (@WorldAgriTech) 31 January 2019

FaunaPhotonics (Denmark) claims to enable the agriculture sector to reduce its chemical use by more than 40% in insect control. Intelligent sensor solutions digitally map insect populations, assisting farmers to identify when and where to spray insecticides. Already working with Tier 1 players in digital farming, by the end of 2019, FaunaPhotonics will have a works-like version of the insect sensor functional in its go-to-market crop.

FOLIUM Science (UK) claims to harness naturally occurring mechanisms to selectively remove unwanted pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, working to deliver solutions for increased productivity at all points in the food and agriculture value chain.

GroGuru (USA) provides a solution for precision irrigation monitoring and management, that includes its revolutionary wireless underground system solution. This should lower the deployed cost and total cost of ownership for farmers. The payback period is said to be less than 1 growing season. According to GroGuru, the system typically saves farmers 20% on input costs, while increasing yield by 10%.

Micropep Technologies (France) develops a new generation of crop stimulation and protection solutions based on active ingredients: miPEPs, natural peptides produced by plant cells to regulate their gene expression. Products comprising miPEPs can be used to transiently regulate the expression level of these genes and improve the corresponding phenotypes.

Pebble Labs (USA/Hong Kong) eliminates pathogens in agriculture, aquaculture and vector-borne disease without chemicals and antibiotics. The company is developing a platform technology to target a wide range of diseases: bacterial, viral and fungal by using RNAi gene silencing delivered via engineered symbiotic bacteria naturally found in the host.

Pheronym (USA) is an agricultural biotechnology company which enables pesticide-free farming. The company’s bio-remediation process uses a new pheromone to control plant-parasitic nematodes (microscopic roundworms) in an eco-friendly way and also beneficial nematodes’ efficacy to eliminate pest insects.

Solynta (the Netherlands) is a breeding and biotechnology company which develops and applies new breeding technologies to convert potatoes into a hybrid crop.

Tillo.app (Singapore/South Africa) provides cloud-based collaboration services to farmers, connecting every worker inside and outside the farm through digital boards specifically designed for simple task management and in-the-field data collection and measurement. Its open API platform integrates third-party technology and applications, a data-rich ecosystem enabling value transactions through fin-tech and blockchain solutions.

WeedOUT (Israel) exploits sterility to win the battle against resistant weeds. Its products are biologically based and mimic natural processes

These 15 start-ups will be joined by the finalists of the Radicle Challenge and World Agri-Tech Pitch Day, alongside dozens more innovators.

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