Innovation Row is a part of the Irrigation Show and Education Week that features ag startup irrigation technology companies looking to promote their products to the irrigation industry. These companies also take the stage in a Pitch Competition in the Innovation Hub on the show floor. The startups present their technologies and products to a panel of agriculture irrigation experts who then select a winner of the competition. Verdi, a variable rate irrigation for specialty crops technology startup, was the winner of the competition in 2022. The companies highlighted here were also featured in the 2022 Innovation Row.
Verdi, Vancouver, British Columbia, was named the 2022 Pitch Competition winner at the 2022 Irrigation Show and Education Week in Las Vegas on Dec. 8.
The Verdi Platform provides variable rate irrigation for specialty crops, allowing growers to build, manage and scale precision agriculture systems by connecting software and hardware with the farm data layer.
Roman Kozak, cofounder and chief technology officer at Verdi says the project started as an academic project at the University of British Columbia.
“We reached out to GoogleX and asked them if they had a hard problem that we could help them work on for our capstone project,” says Kozak. “They replied and told us about an industry need ‘to do plant-level irrigation — this crazy idea of being able to give every plant a unique amount of water.’”
After six months of work, Verdi pitched their project to GoogleX and one of the world’s largest wine brands, and the company has continued to grow from there, says Kozak.
7Sense Argitech, Horten, Norway, is divided into three organizations covering software, monitoring systems and agriculture technology. 7Sense featured its Irrigation Sensor on Innovation Row that saves water, protects crops and frees up time for farmers. The sensor, according to 7Sense, is easy to mount and retrofit to any existing system, gives farmers control over the irrigation process and decreases the need for manual monitoring. The sensor continually monitors vibrations, and any loss of pressure is quickly warned. It features a built-in GPS, which provides the location as well as notifications on the passage of specified points. It also notifies if the spreader is not moving during watering or if it tilts.
Accu-Grow, Monterey Park, California, is a company focused on accurate and efficient application of drip irrigation to conserve water in agriculture. The company offers patent-pending spikes that can get water below the surface and hold a line in place without multiple products. These spikes can be custom-made to each application for both depth and flow rates.
BarbSaver, Dixon, California, is a veteran-owned business that produces and sells the BarbSaver tool. The tool more easily and safely de-couples 1/4-inch micro feeder tubing from attached fittings and devices. The recessed blade channel in the BarbSaver eliminates cut fingers since the blade and has an ergonomic design. According to the company, the tool replaces the fine motor skill of severing micro-drip tubing from devices using utility knives, reducing the repairs to a simple pulling motion of the tool blade channel over the tubing or barbed end.
Her International, Luz Maria, Mexico, produces the Hydro Energy Resonator, which uses magnetic resonance wave technology to restructure water into a more powerful, efficient and absorbable liquid in drip and spray irrigation systems.
The HER reduces the surface tension of water, disperses carbonates, dissolves soluble salts, improves the effectiveness of agrochemicals and plant nutrition products, increases humidity in the soil around the roots, and oxygenates the water. The outcome is an optimized response from the plant resulting in higher crop production and quality, according to the company.
Irriot, Stockholm, Sweden, is a European producer of wireless precision irrigation automation. The company has developed an Internet of Things wireless irrigation solution, which addresses the issues of mobility and affordability for users. It uses the latest ultra-long-range radio communication to eliminate in-field wiring. Their solar-powered watering stations are environmentally friendly and maintenance-free, according to the organization.
Landscan, San Luis Obispo, California, offers its Platform for Discovery which produces a digital twin of a work site using a system of unique, digitally synchronized vegetation and soil profile characterizing technologies. The resulting “Information Infrastructure for Agriculture” is used to optimize agricultural production at the field scale.
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