AgTech Innovation Continue Advancement

AgTech Innovators Compete At Radicle Challenge By Corteva

Five Agtech Innovators Selected from Across the Globe to Compete for $250k in Funding at the Radicle Challenge by Corteva Pitch Day at World Agri-Tech

Innovators Across Water Risk Analytics, Genetic Detection, Early Disease Detection, Autonomous Robots and Soil Microbes Chosen as Finalists from the Largest Ever Pool of Applicants to a Radicle Challenge; to Pitch at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit

Radicle Growth, an acceleration platform for early-stage ag and food technologies, today announced the five entrepreneurs who have been invited to compete at the Radicle Challenge by Corteva Pitch Day competition taking place March 16, 2020 in San Francisco at the World-Agri-Tech Innovation Summit.

The Radicle Challenge by Corteva at World Agri-Tech called on entrepreneurs with technologies across the agricultural landscape who are solving problems with breakthrough technology solutions. The winner will be awarded a$250k investment, access to Radicle’s company-building platform, and the opportunity to engage with Corteva technology leaders to help shape, validate and refine their technology using virtual or actual on-the-farm assessments. It will also present on stage at the summit’s acclaimed Technology Showcase, to an audience of 1,500 agribusiness leaders.

“In just five weeks, we had our largest pool of applicants ever for a Radicle Challenge from across the globe. This confirms that entrepreneurs are hungry not only for the funding to advance the development of their technologies, but also for invaluable coaching and hands-on refining of their technology from some of the biggest names in agriculture,” said Kirk Haney, Managing Partner, Radicle Growth. “Where traditionally we see the highest concentration of applicants in digital ag technologies, we saw more entries than ever before in novel farm systems and biologicals and close to 65% from outside of the U.S. We look forward to having all of these rising stars in one room next month to pitch to our panel of judges.”

The finalists are:

Aquaoso: a SaaS water risk analytics company dubbed the “credit score for water,” which helps ag lenders, investors, growers and shippers understand the financial impacts of water risk on operators.

Holganix: a liquid soil treatment that contains a consortium of 800+ microbes to drive yield, soil health and reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers.

Nanobio Designs: a handheld device that uses self-assembling nanoparticles to test for the presence of GMOs.

Scanit Technologies: An in-field platform (for indoor or outdoor growers) to detect plant pathogens when they are airborne and before they infect plants.

SwarmFarm Robotics: Commercially available robots for autonomous agriculture.

Companies will be evaluated by a panel of esteemed judges, including: Corteva’s CTO, Neal Gutterson, Nutrien’s Chief Corporate Development and Strategy Officer, Mark Thompson, Corteva’s Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer Debra King, Microsoft’s Director of Agriculture, Claudia Roessler, Fall Line Capital’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, Clay Mitchell, DCVC’s Managing Partner, Kiersten Stead and Radicle Growth’s Managing Partner, Kirk Haney. The winner will be announced March 17th at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, the day after the Pitch Day Competition.

For more information on the Radicle Challenge by Corteva at World Agri-Tech, visit www.worldagritechusa.com/radicle-challenge

Digital Technology in Agriculture Will Grow Faster

Digital Technology is Making Huge Leaps in Ag

By Jessica Theisman, Associate Editor

Digital technology is making huge leaps in agriculture. California Ag Today recently spoke with Kirk Haney, CEO of Radicle Growth, a venture capitalist fund concentrated on developing new, innovative companies focused on food, agriculture, health, and sustainability. Agriculture and construction are considered the least digitized industries in the world.

“Everything is digital, everything is being managed, measured, and it is going to happen in agriculture in the same way not only as digital is coming but it brings competition with data sharing,” Haney said.

According to him, if you do not start capturing your data and then sharing it in a way that is going to make you more competitive, your business is going to struggle.

“In terms of the incredible entrepreneurship that we are seeing, the speed at which technology is changing, processing power, chips, the power of iPhones—we are talking about the power of cloud computing and [in] another two years, the power of cloud computing will be in the palm of your hand … on the 5G network,” he said.

The cloud computing will change the way that farmers run their operations. The data stored on these devices will only help farmers increase their precision and improve their farming practices.

Truly, ag is the last frontier, and Haney believes that satellites will soon be used to detect bugs in fields.

“New camera vision technologies can actually, through thermal infrared, spot early pest detection to check out and treat whatever you need to do,” Haney said.