Ecological Design Network

BovControl is a livestock management platform. The platform provides farmers with graphs, timelines, and charts about their livestock and helps them to manage their cattle stock and increase productivity. It was founded in 2015 and is based in Fresno, California.

Field to Market is a diverse initiative that joins stakeholders from all levels of the supply chain to create sustainable outcomes for agriculture. It brings together a diverse group of grower organizations including agribusinesses, food, feed, beverage, restaurant and retail companies, conservation groups, universities and public sector partners to focus on defining, measuring and advancing the sustainability of food, feed, fiber and fuel production. The company was founded in 2006 and is based in Washington, DC.

Regrow operates a digital platform that combines agronomy with soil and carbon modeling. Its platform delivers customized, site-specific, and scalable solutions to businesses across the supply chain. The company was formed after the merger between FluroSat and Dagan. It serves companies operating in the agriculture sector. The company was formerly known as Dagan. It was founded in 2016 and is based in Durham, New Hampshire.

Finz is an app designed for financial decision-makers for high-impact projects such as water, energy, and climate change. It helps funders make better decisions, as well as project leaders, get funding and training. It was founded in 2021 and is based in Bordeaux, France.

Frontier Impact Group (FIG) is a climate change advisory and investment firm. It invests in renewable diesel, organic fertilizers, carbon farming, and vertical farming projects. It bridges the gap between technology, finance, and consumers through project management techniques, networks, unparalleled access, and more. FIG was founded in 2015 and is based in Melbourne, Australia.

Agrihouse is a company that received a STTR Phase I grant for a project entitled: Precision Plant Irrigation Control Utilizing Leaf Thickness Sensor Technology. Their research project will develop an innovative method that enables reliable feedback for plant irrigation control by direct detection of impending water deficit stress (WDS) in plants. This technology indicates water deficit stress of living plants by measuring the thickness of leaves, which decreases dramatically at the onset of leaf dehydration. The proposed method overcomes the obstacle of traditional methods for determining the thickness of living plant leaves, measuring leaf thickness non-destructively, gently, reliably, conveniently, with high resolution, and in real-time. This novel real-time leaf sensor technology is non-destructive to the plants and can be used on a wide number of species. The proposed leaf sensor can easily be miniaturized and automated without hindering plant cycles. It combines concepts of engineering and plant physiology while employing recent technological advances in electronics and information technologies. Early detection of impending water deficit stress in plants may be used as an input parameter for precision irrigation control, a strategy which has the potential to preserve enormous amounts of precious freshwater while ensuring successful plant cultivation and crop yield optimization. Such a device may find commercial applications in agricultural sectors or the greenhouse industry. The research would develop this novel method into a sensor that is applicable reliably, conveniently, and permanently under field conditions. This research implements this novel real-time leaf sensor-technology into an automated irrigation system as a proof-of-concept demonstration, and evaluates its performance in terms of reliable plant cultivation and its potential for water conservation under realistic farming conditions.