We define agriculture tech as technology increasing the efficiency of farms, in the form of software, sensors, aerial-based data, internet-based distribution channels (marketplaces), and tools for technology-enabled farming that doesn’t require the traditional setting and inputs.
- Farm Management Software: This includes software like that produced by Andreessen Horowitz-backed Granular that allows farmers to more efficiently manage their resources, crop production, farm animals, etc.
- Precision Agriculture and Predictive Data Analytics: These startups include those that focus on using big data and predictive analytics to answer farm-related questions and consequently make better decisions related to their farm to save energy, increase efficiency, optimize herbicide and pesticide application (such as Brazil-based Strider) and manage risk.
- Sensors: Startups in the sensor category including Agrilyst develop and provide smart sensors that collect data and help farmers monitor crop health, animal health, weather, soil quality, waste, water usage, and other factors to help make smarter decisions.
- Drones and Robots: This category includes companies that provide drones or aerial services catering to agriculture (such as Ceres Imaging), as well as robots or intelligent farm machines that perform various farm functions more efficiently (such as Blue River Technology, backed by Monsanto Growth Ventures, Syngenta Ventures, and Khosla Ventures, among others).
- Smart Irrigation: These startups (including Hortau) provide systems that help monitor and automate water usage for farms.
- New Farms: This is a small but growing category which includes startups (like indoor farming startup Aero Farms) that use technology to provide alternative farming methods to enable farming in locations and settings that cannot support traditional farming
- Marketplaces: These startups help create and regulate marketplaces relevant to this industry, such as those connecting farmers and buyers of fresh local produce (like Paris-based La Ruche Qui Dit Oui) and linking farmers with suppliers of farm equipment.
Mike Marcie, CIO, Land O’Lakes: In our IT organization here at Land O’Lakes we are working with our business leaders and everyone out in the field to help our membership-which is farmers and agricultural retailers-transform the way they think about technology. Everything from operations to the way they trade, and deal with their customer. It effects every aspect of everything they do, and many aspects of everything we do here. The one that’s the most exciting though, is how technology is transforming what happens on the farm. I think we are just at the beginning of that, but at Land O’Lakes we want to be a leader in that space. We believe we help farmers with decisions in agriculture-in the way they grow, make decisions in planting, and make decisions in environmental questions. We believe that technology is going to radically change the way they make those decisions in the future and we want to be in the forefront of that.