Real Time Crop Nutrient Data

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

Farmers have a good idea of the nutrition needs of their developing crop. But for optimal efficiency, it would be helpful for them to be able to measure those nutrient needs in a specific area of a field in real time. That’s the tool John Mascoe and his team at LeafTech Ag are bringing to the market.

Mascoe… “Currently the industry standard is that we go out and scout a field and collect 15 to 20 individual leaves for a composite sample that we send off to a lab. It generally takes three to five days to get the analysis back to the crop consultant or the grower. Where then they prescribe what is needed to be applied. And each of those samples costs about $25.”

Mascoe says they can improve that process with their handheld digital tool that analyzes the plant nutrient content and chemical composition, and geolocates each scan of that plant.

Mascoe… “It allows you to go through your normal scouting activities. Stop. Scan a plant. Determine its geolocation and its nitrogen and water content today. We take that information, give it to the crop consultant who can then give the prescription and with the number of sites that we can collect through the field are able to define error variability across that field. And we can load that into the applicator where it is variably applied”

Leaf Tech Ag was one of five participants in the recent pitch event put on by AgLaunch an organization that attracts, creates, and grows agtech startups.