FarmSense Takes Top Prize in Bayer's Prestigious Grants4Tech Pest Monitor Challenge
The award-winning Agtech startup takes top spot at global competition for novel and breakthrough technologies for early pest detection
Today, agtech startup FarmSense, announces that it has been awarded the top prize in Bayer's global Grants4Tech Pest Monitor Challenge. The FarmSense team recently spent multiple days demonstrating the capabilities of their FlightSensor™ technology during the finalists' event at Bayer's headquarters in Germany. The panel of judges were impressed by FarmSense's real-time pest monitoring technology and its promising potential to revolutionize pest monitoring efforts in commercial agriculture — resulting in the top prize of 10,000€ and possible future collaboration with Bayer.
Bayer described the goal of the competition as a search for "novel technologies to detect and identify above and/or below ground pests in crops at an early infestation stage, enabling an optimized application of crop protection solutions," [source]. Finalists were scored on four categories: novelty of hardware design, sensitivity (spatial and temporal resolution), scalability (robustness, affordability, ease of use), and testability.
"FarmSense is honored to receive the top prize in the Bayer Grants4Tech Pest Monitor Challenge. Technological advances in real-time pest monitoring and classification, like FarmSense's FlightSensor provides, are essential to support the continued growth of commercial agriculture in a sustainable manner. We are enthusiastic about the future of FarmSense," said Dr. Shailendra Singh, FarmSense co-founder and CTO.
FarmSense's award-winning FlightSensor™ utilizes patented technology, computational entomology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and real-time analytics to improve insect monitoring and crop management efforts. The FlightSensor is a revolutionary step forward in pest management, saving growers time, labor, money, and reducing the need for pesticide use while improving crop yield.
To learn more about FarmSense and their FlightSensor technology, visit https://www.FarmSense.io.
About FarmSense: Founded in 2016, FarmSense helps farmers simplify pest management and take the guesswork out of insect monitoring. The company's patented technology, using their FlightSensor™, provides real-time insect counts and classifications, giving immediate access for farmers to make mission-critical decisions on crop and pest control.
As an award-winning startup, FarmSense has been awarded over $2 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to date with potential funding expansion that would raise this total to over $4 million. Since its original launch as an incubator business at the University of California, Riverside, FarmSense has also garnered numerous media features, participated in several notable agriculture and climate focused conferences, and received awards and grants from entities such as Microsoft, Google, US Department of Defense, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, and more.
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