PBN INNOVATIVE COMPANIES 2020 TECHNOLOGY
Cloud Agronomics
WITH WIDENING PRESENCES in Providence and Boulder, Colo., and a fresh partnership with Microsoft Corp.’s AI for Earth, Cloud Agronomics helps farmers improve their bottom line, sustainably.
Late-20th-century agriculture was a model in which chemicals were applied in huge quantities. Yields increased, but so did the costs to the environment and farmers’ outlays for chemicals. In the meantime, soil was being degraded and topsoil lost to the elements unnecessarily – with negative consequences for climate change, among other things.
The company saw an opportunity to bring new technologies to bear, Cloud Agronomics Executive Chairman Jaymin Patel said. The company worked to bring precision to large-scale agriculture that was previously impossible.
“We give you a map that shows the level of nutrients in precise levels across your field,” Patel said. “So rather than fertilize your entire field the same way, if the northeast quadrant is nitrogen-low, then you only have to fertilize that quadrant. That saves an enormous amount of money and increases yield.”
On average, U.S. farmers are in their late 50s. Selling them on machine-learning and aircraft-obtained data is not always easy, according to CEO Mark Tracy, even if the new practices will help the environment and save the farmers money in the end.
Sometimes, Tracy said, openness to the company’s services comes through the upcoming generation. A father says to a daughter, “Here’s 200 acres” and then, as he sees what can happen, he becomes a believer in converting the entirety of the farm.
As more farmers use Cloud Agronomics’ data-driven analytics in concert with regenerative practices such as minimal plowing, significantly more carbon can be captured in the soil, potentially globally.
At present, Cloud Agronomics has clients in seven different states, with queries coming in from around the world.
