I've been impressed by some of the computer vision work Aerobotics are doing. EG counting and sizing citrus from drones, pest detection etc. Super solid data science team, from the chats I've had.
Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
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Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#32I'd recommend following AgFunder News: https://agfundernews.com (RSS, Twitter, whatever you like). I find that they cover the industry fairly well (or at least link to enough interesting things to get you a foothold). You're totally right that this is an overlooked industry, though make no mistake, many of the big players (your John Deeres and such) have very sophisticated R&D and engineering initiatives pursuing mar…
> though make no mistake, many of the big players (your John Deeres and such) have very sophisticated R&D and engineering initiatives pursuing market opportunities in a variety of ag tech realms
Seconding this. It's easy to think that because SV engineers aren't aware of or don't work on an industry that not much happens in it, but there's a lot of technology in agriculture already. For example, modern tractors can drive themselves, and plant seeds and apply fertilizer exactly where needed using GPS localization. This isn't even that new either. And that's just one highly visible example. There's tons of other R&D in seed companies and other parts of agriculture.
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#33You need to look north: https://www.farmersedge.ca/ ; precision farming, exited by Kleiner Perkins via sale to Prem Watsa of Fairfax Financial https://seedotrun.com/ ; autonomous farming https://www.seedmaster.ca ; precision farming These companies actually have customers and / or are well on their way to commercialization
Very cool to see these posted here (they're in my backyard). Interestingly, DOT and Seedmaster have a very close relationship. Last time I was out there, DOT equipment was being fabricated by folks in the Seedmaster shop.
started by the same dude, share common ownership
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#34Opinion coming from someone who studied Agribusiness but works in high technology.
Farmwise.io is doing some really excellent work. We have a big problem these days with getting low cost labor in California that our Ag producers have traditionally relied on. I also find the team at planet.com to be doing incredibly valuable work that has some really profound and broad applications for agriculture.
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#35The big ones I don't see are:
Plenty - Indoor agriculture (raised over $200m)
Pivot Bio - Nitrogen fixation with engineered microbes
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#36One of my clients which I'm proud of, Phytech, is deploying huge number of plant sensors to measure their status and help save water by planning how much to irrigate.
They are doing very well and have huge customers in the US and Australia.
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#37arable.com
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#38These guys are making an apple picking robot that's pretty bad ass: https://www.abundantrobotics.com
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#39following...very, very exciting.
Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?
#40I am the founder of Optimal: http://optimal.ag . We are a team of engineers and scientists from DeepMind, Palantir, Oxford and MIT. Our mission is to grow safer, healthier food by deploying fully autonomous greenhouses outside every city on earth. We are backed by leading deep technology funds, including Founders Fund. We believe that high-tech greenhouses will be an important part of our agricultural future, for imp…
Whats the big difference with modern existing greenhouses, like the ones in The Netherlands?