Farmers are creating 'talking' plants to reduce crop waste

Alright, Speaking of climate tech, you may think of the agriculture industry as being green, but it’s actually one of the world’s biggest carbon offenders. And that’s why startups are coming up with futuristic ways to reduce waste. Diana Olick explains in her continuing series on climate startups. Hi, Dye. Hey, Ty. Yeah. What if I said we could now talk to plants? The plants could actually tell farmers when they’re in distress, and then farmers could help them. That would not only reduce waste, but it could also streamline the use of pesticides. Sounds crazy, but it’s real. Even with the use of pesticides, 40% of most food crops globally are lost to disease and pests. Agriculture already emits massive amounts of carbon dioxide and this waste makes it worse. That’s why companies like Sat Agro, Climate, Field View and a california-based startup called Inner Plant are working to reduce agricultural waste. Inner Plant genetically engineers plants making them able to communicate with farmers So as the plant is reacting to the stresses in their environment like fungal pressure, insects or nitrogen deficiency, it will start to signal and then we can help farmers understand what areas of the field need something. Inner Plants technology uses fluorescence so the plants leaves emit a signal when in distress. That signal is detectable by devices that can be attached to satellites, drones or tractors. Farmers then know what to treat and don’t waste money on chemicals which are up to 30% over applied. We want to eliminate all the unnecessary applications of of chemicals into our food system, into our soils and also the additional cost that comes to farmers that they don’t get any benefit from. This plant by plant technology is highly scalable and could be licensed to major seed companies. That royalty revenue would come back to inner plant, which makes it enticing to investors. If you can get this technology into every single corn seed or soybean seed across North America and maybe even South America, that is many 100 millions of acres and you can think about, you know a few dollars per acre and that all of a sudden ends up in a lot of revenue for this business. In addition to Bison Ventures, Interplant is backed by John Deere, Ms. and AD Up West and B Partners. Total funding so far, $22.3 million. Inner Plant is now working closely with small farmers as well as some of the nation’s top agriculture producers. Some have paid early access to the tech not to get the technology which will start with soybeans and then expand to other crops. Back to you guys. It sounds like techno technology that would come in handy for me with house plants. I’m just curious then what’s the opportunity with these fluorescents and and does it go into the seed itself or it’s part of the plant? Once there, it’s on the seed. Yeah. It’s actually a genetically engineered seed. So it gets into the seed and then the seed are then sold to the farmers. The farmers planted it becomes a planted it’s and it emits the signal. But it actually just has amended tremendous potential beyond just the farmers. It could be to the agricultural large producers as well as to the food producers who are themselves agriculture producers. Diana, thank you.