Grainswest - Tech 2025

Tech 2025 Grains West 26 FEATURE DATA UPGRADE Ag tech businesses continue to push BY TREVOR BACQUE Ag continues to digitize at a rapid pace. The ag sector is increasingly more about automation and AI and less about buttons and belts. Throughout the industry, bright minds and innovative companies take risks and push toward data-driven solutions. GrainsWest sat down with five organizations that aim to make life easier and more profitable for farmers while attempting to derisk and demystify emerging tech. What a difference one year makes. For EarthOptics, the last 365 days have been a whirlwind. First, the company acquired Pattern Ag, an American business that aimed to revolutionize farming with the use of biological indicators to predict agronomic outcomes. This suited EarthOptics, which was founded in 2019 to provide quality soil data to farmers and ranchers through a trio of mapping—carbon, compaction and nutrient. The company in turn morphs this information into highly accurate data maps that picture the biological, chemical and physical makeup of the soil. The company focuses on taking fewer soil samples to make it more cost effective and produce high resolution maps. Combine this with DNA testing and soil biology, the EarthOptics team feels they have a winning formula to offer more information to farmers about their dirt than ever. The company has recently shifted gears toward its new crop management tool. It loads all the biofertility, fertility, pathogen and pest risks and opportunities onto the EarthOptics’ dashboard. It provides a field map, recommendations and automated fertility prescriptions. The recommendations include seeding and input rates as well as optimal spraying times. It also details the optimal timing to apply biologics and biostimulants. “It takes a lot of the guesswork out of putting together a crop plan and makes it an entirely data-driven exercise that can even be automated. By pressing one button instead of a The EarthOptics GroundOwl is a cutting-edge, multi-modal soil sensor system designed to provide comprehensive insights into soil health. productivity with digital-first solutions Optimal recommendations EarthOptics week-long planning exercise between farmer and agronomist, you make all the key agronomy decisions for that year,” said EarthOptics CEO Lars Dyrud. The ability to simplify operations with precision ag is what most farmers want these days, he added. “It’s taking something that is an experience and gut-level decision like, ‘What seed am I selecting?’ and having concrete data to drive every decision we’re making on this particular field. And we know because of the data; we’re optimizing our decisions around the best outcomes possible.” While the product is primarily situated in the U.S., farmers in Canada, Brazil and other jurisdictions also have access to EarthOptics’ tech. The program is run on a per-acre cost at a rate of $5.72/ac (US$4/ac).