The scope of AgTech advancements over the past couple of years is nothing short of astonishing. Today’s growers are equipped with extensive science-based tools, spanning from disease-resistant seeds, precise nutrients, biological crop inputs, data-driven farm management to robotics for boosting on-farm productivity and reducing food waste. In comparison to other sectors, including renewable energy and cleantech, food and agriculture stands out due to its compelling long-term fundamentals, driven by rapidly changing dietary trends and population growth, along with a sharp focus on resource constraints and sustainability. Stakeholders in the agriculture industry, be it farmers or food producers, are realizing the value of embracing digital transformation as a sustainable and scalable way to take agriculture to new heights, all the way from farm to fork.
While IoT is streamlining the aggregation, inspection, and overall distribution of agricultural resources using sensors on equipment and materials, drones are being readily deployed to monitor crops and prepare for drought and other harmful environmental factors. Much like in other major industries, robotics and artificial intelligence are drastically improving productivity and generating higher and faster yields in agriculture. Additionally, RFID sensors are facilitating hassle-free tracking of food from the field to the store, increasing trustworthiness for manufacturers and their responsibility to provide fresh produce and goods along with machine learning predicting the traits and genes that best enhance crop production.
As new technologies continue to emerge, farmers are continuously sifting through myriad startups to zero in on the solutions that best fit their agricultural needs. Understanding the changing times, StartupCity has compiled a list of top 15 AgTech Startups to guide organizations associated in harnessing the power of technology to navigate through today’s agricultural challenges, increase efficiencies, while simultaneously invigorating quality food production and food safety.
In the wake of these technology transitions, we are glad to feature companies who are at the forefront of the latest technological innovations on our annual list of AgTech Startups. From organizations providing diverse technologies and unparalleled knowledge on indoor farming to the ones leveraging advanced LED lights to improve productivity, we have covered them all. In this edition, the spotlight is on companies that are equipping growers with targeted aerial imagery through drones and enabling various livestock industries to fully comply with medication data and traceability via automated systems. That’s not all; we are also featuring startups that bring together data, technology, and automation to accurately predict and visualize field-level forecasts, besides some experts who are changing the status quo of the agricultural industry with leading-edge data-driven smart irrigation solutions.
With several innovative technological capabilities and success stories up their sleeves, these startups are constantly proving their mettle in the field of agriculture. We hope this issue of the StartupCity helps you build the partnership you and your firm needs for fostering a technologically-driven agricultural environment.
We present to you StartupCity’s “15 Most Promising AgTech Startups 2019.”
