The following are the four companies—who are developing technologies that improve on-farm efficiencies and inventing automation to help relieve agriculture’s labor shortage—selected to compete in the Radicle Automation Challenge:
- Augean Robotics: Augean Robotics builds Burro, a robot that follows pickers and functions as virtual conveyor belt between pick points and collection points, allowing hand pickers to pick continuously rather than wasting up to 30 percent of their time shuttling produce.
- FruitSpec: FruitSpec provides a highly accurate fruit yield estimation from the early immature green fruit stage when critical decisions are made.
- Ganaz: Ganaz helps farms recruit and engage with their workforce. Using their growing network of thousands of farmworkers and their social media integrations, Ganaz lets farms recruit farmworkers with a few taps from their smartphone. Once on the job, farmers can get essential messages out to their workforce (like shift changes) and solicit feedback on working conditions to improve retention.
- GroGuru: GroGuru has a 100 percent wireless underground sensor that is able to transmit from as far below ground as six feet. In addition, their transmission device can work with other sensors. Their wireless solution can instrument, monitor, collect and analyze data, and deliver real-time results for optimal soil and water management across all soil and crop types.
- Kirk Haney, CEO & Managing Partner of Radicle Growth
- Arama Kukutai, Co-Founder and Partner of Finistere Ventures
- Frank Maconachy, President & CEO of Ramsay Highlander, Inc.
- Tom Nunes, Vice President of Operations of The Nunes Company, Inc.
- Wendy Srnic, Research Director at Corteva Agriscience—Agricultural Division of DowDuPont