Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Food for Thought: Startups Harness AI to Nurture the Future of Agriculture

16/10/2021

From counting cows to detecting weeds to pollinating tomatoes, startups around the world are deploying AI technology to solve problems that farmers have struggled with since the dawn of time.

Tomorrow's World Food Day comes as startups are mobilized to change how our food is grown - with potentially wide implications for the economy, public health and the climate. And they're often employing the NVIDIA Jetson edge AI platform and NVIDIA Metropolis intelligent video analytics application framework to do so.

The agri-food industry employs 1 billion people worldwide, more than any other economic sector. However, labor shortages are an increasing problem in many areas. Moreover, the way we produce, consume and waste food exacts a heavy toll on the planet, putting pressure on natural resources and the climate.

The good news is that many innovators and emerging companies are tackling these challenges, including more than 300 startups that are members of NVIDIA Inception. The program, which has more than 8,500 members, is designed to nurture startups in AI, HPC and data science with tools, training and technology expertise that help them to get to market faster.

Here's a look at a handful of startups that are using NVIDIA technology and AI to change the future of agriculture.

Giving Bees a Break AI-powered robots are as busy as bees, literally and figuratively. Arugga, an Israel-based startup, has built robots that pollinate tomato plants, a job usually occupied by bumblebees.

Most of the bees that currently buzz about tomato farms are mass-produced and shipped to customers. Otherwise, intense manual human labor is required.

Arugga's robots give both bees and farm workers a break, using the NVIDIA Jetson Xavier NX module to streamline the pollination process. At one customer site, they've already increased harvest yields by 20 percent.

The company uses the NVIDIA Metropolis intelligent video analytics platform to develop and deploy its computer vision systems that detect flowers ready for pollination and then blast air pulses at them to initiate pollination. While its robots are pollinating tomato fields, they also collect annotated data, which is used to retrain and benchmark the robots' AI models.

Weeding Out Weeds Some weeds can resist the herbicides used in row-crop agriculture, but they can't resist AI - at least the type that Greeneye, an NVIDIA Inception member based in Tel Aviv, has developed.

The startup's AI-driven smart sprayers, powered by NVIDIA Jetson, detect and target individual weeds - and precisely deliver a measured but lethal dose of chemicals - in a matter of milliseconds.

Similarly, Bilberry, a startup based in Paris, has used NVIDIA Jetson to develop technology that recognizes weeds and precisely applies herbicides in corn and wheat farms.

Farms that have employed technologies developed by Greeneye and Bilberry have seen over 90 percent reductions in chemical and herbicide usage, as well as decreased costs from water and soil contamination.

Moreover, Greeneye uses its technology to collect large-scale, high-resolution agricultural data and insights from the field that are then delivered to farmers and other stakeholders.

Perfect (Computer) Vision in the Field Computer vision startups are also envisioning new heights and standards for agricultural processes.

Plainsight, an NVIDIA Metropolis partner, is working with a global food company to reduce inaccuracies in livestock counts. Within the cattle industry, livestock such as cows reside in tight quarters and move quickly, making it difficult for farmers to report accurate numbers, which can lead to hefty financial losses.

The startup has developed AI-powered video analytics applications for cameras to detect, track and precisely count livestock. Its technology stack is built on the NVIDIA EGX platform and processes multiple streams per GPU in real time to monitor and count livestock.

Results from one deployment have shown a 99.5 percent accuracy rate - a two percentage point increase from traditional manual counting processes. This can add up to huge cost savings across herds thousands of head strong.

https://blogs.nvidia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Plainsight_VisionAI_Cattle-Counting-1.mp4

Likewise, University of Florida researchers are tapping into computer vision to build smart sprayers of agrochemicals to fight citrus disease, which is threatening orchards, killing fruit and drastically lowering crop yields across the world.

Their image recognition models, which run on the Jetson edge AI platform, detect plant sizes to optimize the amount of crop protection products and fertilizers sprayed. This cuts down on overspray and reduces the amount of wasted material that is washed into the groundwater.

Many NVIDIA Inception members will present their innovations at GTC, from Nov. 8-12. For example, this GTC session, titled: From Fish Facial Recognition to Self-Driving Seeders: Discover How Edge Computing Is Modernizing Agriculture, will discuss how AI is revolutionizing the way we produce food and helping us cope with the dramatic changes our world faces.

Register for free for GTC.
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2021/10/15/ai-startups-agriculture-world...
See more stories from nvidia

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

12/08/2026

ACLU Requests ABC Station Probe Documents from FCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Roger Keating To Retire from Hearst Television

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Netflix Closes U.S. Upfronts, Nearly Doubles Ad Commitments

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

CBS Pittsburgh Debuts New AR/VR News Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/08/2026

Matthews Intros T-Go Extreme Rigging Solutions

Matthews Studio Equipment introduces T-Go Mounting Solutions extreme camera rigging systems, engineered for the most demanding environments in motion picture pr...

12/08/2026

Anton Bauers EDEN Becomes Only Mobile Power Station in it...

Anton/Bauer, a Videndum brand and the industry leader in mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic production, announces that the EDEN Mobile Power Sta...

12/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Cuts Hardware Costs for Customers with...

TAG Video Systems, the global leader in software-based IP monitoring and multiviewer solutions, today announced a memory usage optimization that lowers the tota...

12/08/2026

Unified Streaming Launches Trusted Media - C2PA in Dynami...

Unified Streaming announces Trusted Media, a new solution that enables broadcasters, streaming platforms, and premium content owners to attach verifiable authen...

12/08/2026

Tedial Powers the AI-Driven Media Supply Chain at IBC 202...

Combining intelligent automation, composable business services and user-centric experiences The media industry is entering a new phase where AI intelligence is...

12/08/2026

DPA Microphones Appoints Raul Contreras as West Coast Reg...

DPA Microphones welcomes Raul Contreras as its new West Coast Regional Sales Manager. In this role, Contreras will oversee sales and customer relationships thro...

12/08/2026

Weather is Not a Factor for Marshall Electronics New CV57...

Marshall Electronics' first all-weather, all-IP 4K POV camera, the CV574-WP, makes its European debut at IBC 2026 (Stand 10.C11). Built for the elements, th...

12/08/2026

A double off-switch helps cells respond to stress

LA JOLLA, CA-Scientists at Scripps Research have discovered that two seemingly unrelated cellular enzymes become locked together during times of stress, simulta...

11/08/2026

Apple To Bring Friday Night Baseball Live to Apple Immersive on Vision Pro Beginning Aug. 28

Weekly immersive broadcasts will feature 8K 3D video, a 180-degree field of view...

11/08/2026

Looking for a New Cameraperson? ProductionHUB Guide Lays Out Considerations, Pitfalls

By Briana Brady, Social Media Manager, Production Hub Sports content is having ...

11/08/2026

SVG Sit-Down: Backlight CEO Kathleen Barrett on Building Media Infrastructure for a Global, AI-Driven Sports Landscape

She addresses why media organizations need more than asset storage, how sports t...

11/08/2026

FloSports Dennis LeMire on Implementing Cloud-Based Workflows on Lower Tier Sports

Remote commentary has improved significantly on these broadcasts At a clip of ...

11/08/2026

Miami HEAT's Revamped IP-Based Control Room Coordinates Workflows With Meinberg Intelligent Modular Synchronization System

A pair of LANTIME IMS M2000 PTP Grandmasters deliver resilient timing infrastruc...

11/08/2026

LTN Expands Live Event Master Control Capabilities for Sports Organizations

LTN has announced expanded capabilities for its Live Event Master Control offering, providing sports broadcasters, leagues, rights holders, and content owners w...

11/08/2026

WTA Ventures Appoints IMG as Managed Production Services Partner

WTA Ventures has appointed IMG as its managed production services partner in a multi-year agreement commencing with the 2027 season. The partnership is the late...

11/08/2026

New York Jets and CBS New York Extend Multi-Year Partnership

The New York Jets and CBS New York have agreed to a multi-year extension of their partnership, keeping CBS New York as the official broadcast home of the team. ...

11/08/2026

Nielsen Acquires DoubleVerify to Create New Combined Media Intelligence Platform

Nielsen Holdings and DoubleVerify have announced a definitive agreement under which Nielsen will acquire DoubleVerify in an all-cash transaction with an enterpr...

11/08/2026

AES Elects David v.R. Bowles as President-Elect for 2027, Unveils Other Election Results

The Audio Engineering Society has announced the results of its 2026 Board of Dir...

11/08/2026

SVG Sit-Down Creator Sports Network's Barrick Prince on Building the Next Layer of the Live-Sports Rights Stack

The CSN co-founder details its network and affiliate' model, how creator wi...

11/08/2026

Gravity Media Providing Host Broadcast Operations for Esports World Cup 2026

Gravity Media is providing host broadcast operations for the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2026, supporting ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) in delivering the tournament to glo...

11/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Reduces Memory Requirements for Compressed Workflows

TAG Video Systems has released a memory usage optimization for its MCM software that reduces the cost per channel by up to two-thirds for compressed workflows. ...

11/08/2026

SMT Expands LED Production and Scoring Services at 2026 Cincinnati Open

SMT is expanding its technology partnership with the Cincinnati Open this year, adding new LED displays, production capabilities, and fan-facing experiences at ...

11/08/2026

Pac-12 to Stream Fall Olympic Sports Home Events Free on YouTube

The Pac-12 has announced that home Olympic sports broadcasts throughout the fall season will be available free on the conference's YouTube channel at youtub...

11/08/2026

Case Study: Real Life Network Taps LiveU for Broadcast-Grade Streaming

Spreading a message of faith requires both widespread accessibility and uncompromising visual quality. Real Life Network (RLN), a free, faith-based digital stre...

11/08/2026

Tennessee Titans' New Nissan Stadium Will Live Up to Its Music City Location

Taking the synergy of sports and entertainment a step further, the NFL venue in Nashville will house iterations of two iconic music clubs The marriage of Taylo...

11/08/2026

The Crow Hill Company introduce Pocket Strings

Free library captures pro classical string section There's no shortage of freebies in The Crow Hill Company's line-up, with their Vaults series offe...

11/08/2026

Emergence Audio unveil Envoy

Percussion instrument introduces all-new engine Emergence Audio have just introduced a instrument that brings together a vast collection of percussive analo...

11/08/2026

Boris FX reveal Sequoia 2026.5

Introduces new all-in-one Spatial Panner tool Boris FX have recently announced the latest major update for their mastering and broadcast-focused DAW softwar...

11/08/2026

Rohde & Schwarz installs millimeter wave security scanners at Airports of Thailand (AOT) Airports

Rohde & Schwarz installs millimeter wave security scanners at Airports of Thaila...

11/08/2026

Dolby Acquires VVC Patents From Florida Atlantic University

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Alyson Stewart Joins Zixi as Senior Director, Sales

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

FCC Issues Alert Over Scammers Impersonating Its Commissioners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Comcast, Disney Ink Deal to End NFL Network Blackout

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

farmerswife and Cirkus are Exhibiting at IBC 2026

farmerswife and Cirkus will return to IBC 2026 to showcase new tools designed to help broadcast, media and post-production teams manage workflows with greater s...

11/08/2026

LiveU Powers Cross-Venue Coverage of Glasgow Commonwealth...

LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit played a central role in the host broadcast operation for the Games in Glasgow (July 23 to August 2, 2026). The host b...

11/08/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints James Morse as Client Director to Drive...

Jigsaw24 has appointed James Morse as Client Director, Media Sales, as it deepens its focus on sports, live events and integrated production. His appointment co...

11/08/2026

Net Insight enables one of Europes largest broadcast grad...

Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway has selected its Open Live Media solution to centralize the production of Blinkfestivalen 2026. Combining...

11/08/2026

Vivaro Supports Record World Cup Audiences with the Appea...

Modular HEVC and JPEG XS workflows enabled resilient, ultra-low-latency delivery for leading linear and digital media platforms across all 104 matches Appear A...

11/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola Mndez

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola M ndez The first cuatrista to graduate from Berklee talks about the community that shaped her career ahead of her Homecom...

11/08/2026

FOR-A To Highlight MixBoard, Viztrik AiDi Enhancement At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

AMWA and EBU to Host Demos at IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/08/2026

Dalet Solution Suites Enable Media Teams to Move Like a S...

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced Dalet Solution Suites, a new portfolio of cloud-native solutions ...

11/08/2026

Mediagenix Helps Broadcasters Prepare for Brazil DTV Futu...

Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, will showcase how media companies can prep...