Recent excessive rainfall in California may have caused some observers to think, “Well, that should take care of the drought problem there.” But the reality is that virtually all of the state of California continues to rate at some level of drought or “abnormally dry” status, according to the National Integrated Drought Mapping System (NIDMS).
In fact, the NIDMS showed that as of the end of January, more than 42% of the lower 48 states were in some level of drought. That makes technologies used for agriculture water management more critical than ever before, and with that in mind, CropX Technologies, a fast-growing Israeli company that operates an Agronomic Farm Management System, recently announced its acquisition of Tule Technologies, a precision irrigation company based in California.
The CropX system relies on ground-level sensors that collect a variety of data, and acquiring Tule brings CropX new data collection capabilities from above the plant canopy that help to precisely determine crop water use, which will enhance CropX’s AI-based predictions, recommendations, and automations. Tule, which already as been working with clients such as winemakers and orchard owners in California, also will add to CropX's solutions for drip-irrigated specialty crops such as tree-nuts and vineyards, the company said.
This is the fourth company that CropX has acquired since 2020 and the second U.S.-based company after the early 2020 deal to buy Nebraska-based CropMetrics. CropX also acquired New Zealand-based Regen in late 2020 and Netherlands-based Dacom Farm Intelligence the following year. CropX CEO Tomer Tzach spoke with Fierce Electronics by email to further discuss what CropX has been up to and how its technology works. Below is an edited version of that exchange.
Fierce Electronics: Can you explain how the sensors get deployed?
Tomer Tzach: The CropX agronomic farm management system is an easy-to-use integrated hardware and software system that connects farm data, real-time conditions, and agronomic knowledge to provide guidance for successful and sustainable farming, while aggregating all agronomic farm data in one place for easy tracking and sharing.
Data from below the ground is essential for providing accurate and preventative agronomic insights. Using soil sensors to capture data on soil moisture, soil temperature and electrical conductivity/saturated paste (EC Sat. Paste) enables CropX to generate recommendations on what a plant needs before it starts showing stress.
CropX offers users two options for capturing this important data: a patented, spiral-design soil sensor, as well as a top-of-the-line telemetry device that transfers data from the field to the cloud. The CropX soil sensor provides accurate, real-time soil readings while being an easy-to-install, self-contained device. The CropX telemetry device allows for sensors from third-party manufacturers to send data to the CropX cloud, making it possible for more farmers to enjoy the benefits of the CropX system. The sensors install easily and quickly and don’t require a technician because calibration is done automatically. Installation can be done in about five minutes per sensor. The top part of the sensor contains the power supply and antenna and sits above the ground; the pole goes down to 24 inches below the soil.
Our telemetry device also allows users to BYOS, or bring their own sensor. Some users may already have sensors installed in the field or for one reason or other prefer a different device, but still want to use CropX’s powerful, yet simple, software.
FE: How many sensors would be spread over an entire field?
TT: The number of sensors that are needed depends on the number of acres, the types of crops you’re growing, the topography of your fields and the soil type and texture. After users register their fields and crops, we’ll recommend the number of sensors needed and where to place them. Generally speaking, we recommend one sensor per 40 acres, but the grower can certainly decide to increase or decrease the number of sensors in use.
FE: As data gets collected how is it used by farms?
TT: Farmers use the CropX system to make all kinds of agronomic decisions: when and how much to water, when and what kind of fungicide to spray, whether the plants are absorbing nitrogen or if salts are building up in the soil. They also use CropX to track and report on operations to partners or, in some cases, regulatory bodies.
The CropX system aggregates and activates farm data. We do this for the benefit of the farmer who can easily manage their data to track and report on their operations, as well as activate this data by using the agronomic planning capabilities of CropX to maximize crop yields, save time and money, and increase the sustainability of their operations. We do this by guiding farmers on applying inputs such as water, fertilizer, and fungicides at exactly what, where, when, and how much.
This also benefits the entire ag supply chain. Suppliers such as fertilizer and ag chemical companies can advise growers on the most efficient ways to use their products and can also see how their products are being used if the farmer chooses to share this data. Food processors can reduce the Scope 3 emissions in their supply chain by helping farmers reduce inputs and increase operational efficiency as well as gain more transparency at the farm level. Many of these companies have made important climate pledges to reduce the environmental impact of their operations and to ensure the success of their farmers when it comes to profitability.
FE: Regarding the Tule acquisition, how will you expand the market for the capabilities of this California-based company?
TT: CropX has global reach. We can take the Tule solution outside of California to farmers using drip irrigation nearly anywhere in the world. The data from the Tule sensor will be incorporated into the CropX software platform, adding another layer to our soil-to-sky data capture and enabling CropX to provide extremely accurate advice and insights no matter what irrigation system is being used on a field.
FE: CropX has acquired four technology companies in the last few years. Will you continue to acquire other companies?
TT: We believe that there is a lot of great technology in the agronomic farm management market, and we think it benefits everyone when we can consolidate this technology and bring it to a global market through a simple and easy-to-use solution. We’re proud to be one of the major consolidators in this area.
Tule is the fourth acquisition we’ve done in three years. The first was an irrigation solution based in Nebraska, the second was an effluent management solution from New Zealand, and the last one before Tule was a farm management platform solution which was founded in 1987 and based out of the Netherlands. We’ve managed to successfully incorporate the technology and teams into CropX with all three of those past acquisitions and plan to do the same with Tule and the ones that come after. It’s also an honor for CropX to note that all three founders from the acquired companies are still on board with us, and we’re happy to have their expertise and leadership.
We developed a good system for finding technologies/companies that fit well with CropX and then building and bringing better solutions to the global market. Our focus is to bring powerful agronomic value with simple digital solutions. We plan to continue building on our already extremely robust agronomic farm management platform to be able to boost productivity, minimize environmental impact, optimize resource use, increase profitability, and create data connections on any farm, anywhere.