AgTech Startup Supplant Raises $10M To Introduce Small Farmers To AI Irrigation

Israeli agricultural technology company SupPlant has raised $10 million in a funding round co-led by Boresight Capital, Menomadin Foundation, Smart-Agro Fund and Mivtah Shamir.

The investment brings SupPlants’s total funding since the company was founded in 2012 to over $19 million.

SupPlant’s technology is designed for the world’s 450 million small growers. By September 2021, the sensor-less technology will be implemented by 500,000 farmers in Kenya. In 2022, SupPlant aims for over two million smallholders in Africa and India utilizing its new technology. Smallholders, or small-scale farms, produce about a third of the world’s food, according to research carried out by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In fact, the vast majority of the world’s farmers – five of out every six – operate on less than two hectares of land. The new autonomous irrigation technology relies on agronomic algorithms, artificial intelligence and cloud-based technology to help farmers boost their yield. It measures plants’ stress and monitors their water content in order to project growth patterns. The company states its technology saves water, reduces costs and improves and aids in decision-making, since SupPlant’s online platform helps make precise irrigation recommendations, based on crop data. SupPlant’s database holds the combined expertise of 31 crops across 14 countries, covering growing conditions from dry arid regions in the Middle East to tropical conditions in Central America. The company is rapidly growing its presence across the world, with a strong presence so far in Mexico, Australia and Argentina. In South Africa, SupPlant will be represented and distributed by AECI Plant Health.  READ MORE about the latest applications for agricultural sensors. 

Source: New AG International

https://www.newaginternational.com/index.php/en/news/news-from-the-market/2757-agtech-startup-supplant-raises-10m-to-introduce-small-farmers-to-ai-irrigation