Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#141

Post by tmshapland » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:00 AM UTC

Tule helps farmers make irrigation decisions. We install a proprietary research-based sensor in farmers' fields. The sensor measures the water use and water stress of the plants in an entire field. Tule uses the field-scale plant data, as well as cutting-edge artificial intelligence models, to provide farmers with irrigation recommendations. Our customers span from the winemakers who farm California's most prized vineyards to the growers at the largest scale almond operations in the Central Valley. Tule is a profitable company whose mission is to help generations of farmers maximize production and more efficiently manage natural resources.

www.tuletechnologies.com

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#142

Post by ironfootnz » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:07 AM UTC

I've seen the focus on the thread, fascinating.

The major focus is: To produce more.

I haven't seen one to Waste less. Inverse the balance sheet.

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#143

Post by shoyer » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:07 AM UTC

I worked for The Climate Corporation when it was acquired by Monsanto (now Bayer) for $1B.

There is certainly plenty of potential for innovative tech in agriculture, but it’s a really tough space. Machine learning and big data are not magic bullets. The level of noise in experimental measurements is very high, which makes it difficult to prove the effectiveness of almost any intervention.

Climate Corp did (and still does) sell a SAS product advising growing decisions based on machine learning. But the price of that product has fallen dramatically over time, and now it’s nearly free. The premium product now has a list price of $1/acre vs. expected grower revenue of ~$700/acre (for corn in the US). What does that say about the value the software provides?

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#144

Post by isoprophlex » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:18 AM UTC

I'm doing some work for a startup that wants to automate greenhouse climate control.

The software automatically manages lighting, climate, irrigation based on long term growth strategies, real time sensor data and energy prices.

This saves time spent manually managing greenhouse climate, and money due to improved crop and energy management.

We're hiring! Looking for a data scientist with a mind for optimization problems. The Netherlands, Delft region.

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#145

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:31 AM UTC

tomhoward wrote: post #122

I've been working on a hardware data logger device and web software platform that monitors soil moisture and other environmental metrics that produce-growers care about – soil temperature and conductivity (which indicates salinity or fertiliser penetration), air/canopy temperature, rainfall, irrigation, humidity, solar radiation, etc. We've been working on the product for about 4-5 years (as a side project while work…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#146

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:33 AM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #107

wuunderbar wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Our mission is to grow safer, healthier food by deploying fully autonomous greenhouses outside every city on earth. How exactly is food grown from autonomous greenhouses than traditional greenhouses safer and healthier? Or, alternatively, how is it safer and healthier if it is grown right outside of the cities in which in supply?

Controlled environment means pest and weed management is easier with fewer or no chemical agents. Closer to end user means less plant engineering for transport and storage which is correlated with worse nutrition (or just less variety)

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#147

Post by enjoiful » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:45 AM UTC

tmshapland wrote: post #141

Tule helps farmers make irrigation decisions. We install a proprietary research-based sensor in farmers' fields. The sensor measures the water use and water stress of the plants in an entire field. Tule uses the field-scale plant data, as well as cutting-edge artificial intelligence models, to provide farmers with irrigation recommendations. Our customers span from the winemakers who farm California's most prized vin…

Hey Tom — nice to see you around. Dan from InnoVint here.

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#148

Post by enjoiful » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:50 AM UTC

Us at InnoVint have made an app for wine production, as well as vineyard analytic tools.

We’re hiring too!

www.innovint.us

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#149

Post by jelliclesfarm » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:51 AM UTC

You can find it all here. Definitive landscape guide maps for both Farm Agtech and Indoor Agtech. I don’t think they missed a whole lot. Pretty sure there are more than a few that are in stealth mode. But this about sums it up.

1600 companies Agtech landscape map: https://agfundernews.com/2019-06-04-agtech-landscape-2019-16...

1000+ companies indoor Agtech landscape map: http://mixingbowlhub.com/inside-indoor-agtech/

Re: Ask HN: Agriculture startups doing interesting work?

#150

Post by AGTfan » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 4:56 AM UTC

I'm with https://www.agworld.com - a platform that connects farmers with agronomists and other advisors and helps them manage their farm data. Everything with the aim of enabling farmers to make more profitable decisions.

We just had our 10 year anniversary.. it's been a long road but definitely very rewarding!