{"id":4352,"date":"2017-03-27T17:55:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T17:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/arable-raises-4-25-million-to-demystify-farming-with-sensors-and-data.html"},"modified":"2017-03-27T17:55:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T17:55:39","slug":"arable-raises-4-25-million-to-demystify-farming-with-sensors-and-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/arable-raises-4-25-million-to-demystify-farming-with-sensors-and-data.html","title":{"rendered":"Arable raises $4.25 million to demystify farming with sensors and data"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Arable<\/a> has raised $4.25 million for solar-powered sensors and software to help farmers produce more food with fewer resources, and more accurately predict their yields. Middleland Capital<\/a> and S2G Ventures<\/a> led the Series A investment in Arable joined by Chasefield,<\/a> Spark Labs <\/a>and Cantos VC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, farmers in the US have faced a labor shortage<\/a> for years. US citizens aren\u2019t drawn to agriculture the way they were in previous generations, and everything from a complex visa\u00a0program\u00a0to anti-immigrant hate groups keep people from coming here to join the agricultural work force. The labor trend has pushed farmers to automate some of the tasks done by agronomists and field workers in the past using software, robotics and IoT devices like Arable\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Arable\u2019s sensors constantly gather data about plant health, density, light and weather. The company boasts that they precisely measure more than 40 different, relevant data types, a more comprehensive amount than other IoT \u201csmart farming\u201d devices which tend to focus on just one issue in the field like irrigation or soil tension.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessary to send people walking across acres as often if you have a machine eye on the field. And with more accurate forecasting, which is possible by collecting and analyzing that data, farms aren\u2019t as likely to over- or under-staff their operations as harvest approaches.<\/p>\n

Farmer\u2019s uptake of technology is also driven by the rising cost of land, supplies (like seeds or fertilizer) and water. \u201cSmart farming\u201d and \u201cprecision agriculture,\u201d let farmers make decisions about what needs tweaking in the field before it\u2019s too late, reigning in irrigation where sensors can tell that conditions are humid enough, for example, or working to connect with more food producers or other buyers if they are about to deliver a bumper crop.<\/p>\n

Arable CEO Adam Wolf said his company\u2019s Arable Mark (formerly known as the Pulsepod) and Arable Insights platform are valuable across different types of farms. The data also becomes valuable to food buyers, not just farmers.<\/p>\n

Wolf said, \u201cThe farmer wants to sell. The processor wants to distribute. The grocer wants to buy it. Nobody wants a deal not to go through. \u201cWe are in a position to gather and analyze more data than anyone. We can see things in the field that you\u2019ve never witnessed before like the onset of blooms or development of clusters and coloring. This amounts to helping all parties reduce supply chain risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he\u2019s worried farming will go inside, as \u201cvertical farms\u201d and technology to\u00a0control them are rapidly advancing, Wolf said, \u201cAs\u00a0far as I\u2019m concerned, you\u00a0don\u2019t get any cheaper than the sun. And you can\u2019t beat\u00a010 acres in Salinas.\u201d \u00a0Arable intends to use its Series A capital for hiring, especially more scientists and engineers, and to ramp up production of its sensors.<\/p>\n

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Featured Image: techcrunch.com<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n

Article source: https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2017\/03\/27\/arable-raises-4-25-million-to-demystify-farming-with-sensors-and-data\/?ncid=rss<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arable has raised $4.25 million for solar-powered sensors and software to help farmers produce more food with fewer resources, and more accurately predict their yields. Middleland Capital and S2G Ventures <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-4352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking-and-communication","tag-network-and-communication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t