Big congrats to our WG Innovation intern Henry Cremers for putting together some great AgTech videos this summer. Here’s the first one!

It was a really great summer for our WG Innovation intern Henry Cremers. He’s a Cal Poly rising senior and a Salinas guy who knows his way around ag, AgTech, videos, and social media. Naturally given that background, we put him to work talking to as many startups as he could and doing some great videos with the founders. As you can see, he’s created his own YouTube channel for these videos (Henry Cremers Media), and I recommend subscribing. This is the first one he’s finished, and he has more coming that will launch on his channel. He’s calling these Startup Sessions, and I like the name. This first one is about Verdant Robotics and their Sharpshooter product.

The Sharpshooter discussion is with Curtis Garner, co-founder at Verdant who runs sales and customer success. It shows some videos of the machine in action. It talks about the problem statement – Curtis saw the ever-increasing cost of labor and realized there was an opportunity to solve some of the labor challenges. He found a technical co-founder in Gabe Sibley and off they went. Curtis’ ag background allowed them to go meet growers (sometimes at 6 am in the fog – sometimes in 100+ degree heat mid-day).

The ease of use is a big topic. The sharpshooter allows you to put the autonomous sprayer out in the field, choose the crop that’s being sprayed, and get to work. You can see just how much hardware complexity and component costs are built into every machine. It’s important that it can work with different bed configurations – 40″ or 80″ beds, 30″ or 60″ beds – based on how you farm. I like the duck analogy – you have to get visioning and analysis integrated so that as the machine is moving down the field it can get ready and “lead the duck” a little to hit the weed just where it needs to as it is driving by (slowly, but it’s still literally a moving target).

Curtis goes through some of the competitive dynamics in terms of when and how to best use the machine. It also goes through grower economics factors, including the acre count you plan on using the machine, whether you are growing conventional or organic product (savings on organic are generally larger because more labor is required because you often weed with a human labor crew when you can’t use a pesticide). I always like to see a payback analysis, and 6-18 months for Sharpshooter is great to hear. Obviously, each grower needs to validate this on their own acreage and with their own operations team.

The last point Curtis makes is a good one. Growers do feel more comfortable working with startups that they’ve seen for a few years at events and at field demonstrations. The more you can make growers feel that you understand their problems and can help solve them because you’ve successfully helped other growers like them, the more likely they are to trust you. The desire to hear from other growers who have tried a solution is large in agriculture. Yes, growers compete for buyers and shelf space, but they also respect the decisions other growers are making on AgTech. So, bringing a customer story and some data with you to conversations with other growers is always a great idea.

Big props to Henry for putting a great video on a space that has a lot of traction currently – weed control through various technologies, including mechanical, spray, and laser weeders. I look forward to seeing the rest of his work as he gets ready to head back to SLO for his senior year. Great work Henry. We appreciate your efforts!

On a related note, I just have to give a shout out to the team at Verdant. They made quite a turnaround after some really tough times a couple of years ago. Turning a startup around is tough – any startup. Turning an AgTech startup that does hardware around is even tougher. You’ve got some real-world costs on hardware that are tough to minimize and the ability to pivot to a new idea is really tough because you should already be focused on solving the problem and doing a redesign and new R&D work on a new idea take time and money. Well done to team Verdant to come out the other side of the challenges stronger and are now generating some real revenue.

Here’s the link to the video – AI-Powered Weed Control: Verdant Robotics’ Precision Application System

Here’s the link to Henry’s channel on YouTube so you can subscribe! Henry Cremers Media – YouTube