Rabbit Tractors is building swarm-enabled, autonomous tractors that are approximately one-third the size and one-fourth the weight of normal tractors and spray rigs and capable of pulling implements as well as late-season spraying. The Rabbit Tractor solution involves the farmer actively managing the field operations of several small units from a similar dashboard as they currently manage when driving their current tractor but located on their laptop.

Location: Cedar Lake, Indiana
Site:  www.rabbittractors.com

EarthSense is a robotics and machine-learning startup that is currently providing its TerraSentia robots to seed breeders and crop scientists to help them create better crop varieties faster by getting more accurate trait data from field trials. EarthSense products currently in development will help farmers directly – including robots designed for field scouting as well as robots that can perform tasks such as weed removal throughout the season.

Location: Champaign, Illinois
Site: www.earthsense.co

Stony Creek Colors is producing natural textile dyes from plant-based sources for the indigo and denim industry, Stony Creek Colors aims to produce 15,000 acres of indigo in the USA. This would replace 2.8% of synthetic indigo dye globally.

Location: Springfield, Tennessee
Site:  www.stonycreekcolors.com/

Secure Food Solutions, Inc., a food safety company, focuses on developing technologies for the detection of toxins, pathogens and other contaminants in the food supply worldwide.

Location: Martin, Tennessee
Site: www.secure-food-solutions.com

Skycision saves growers time scouting by rapidly identifying field stress through the analysis of aerial imagery. Data is provided to augment yield-impacting decisions. Skycision was developed by a team that met at Carnegie Mellon and has its first target customers in the vineyard industry in California.

Location: founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Site: www.skycision.com

Persistence Data Mining is developing a non-intrusive remote survey system to service large tracks of open farmland. Our cutting-edge soil mapping technology will serve the precision agricultural industry by dramatically improving the efficiency of automated fertilizer application.

Location: founded in La Jolla, California
Site: www.persistencedata.com/

Microbiometer™ allows you to estimate the microbial biomass in your soil in 10 minutes for 10 percent of the cost of a lab test. Results are read and stored on your cellphone or tablet and in the cloud for access across all your devices.

Location: Montgomery, New York
Site: www.microbiometer.com

Kilimo provides a decision-support tool for irrigation management in agriculture. Using satellite, climate and on-site data, we feed our proprietary Big Data engine to make the best possible irrigation prescription for each crop, improving yields up to 30 percent and water use efficiency up to 70 percent.

Location: founded in Cordova, Argentina
Site: www.kilimo.com.ar

Grow Bioplastics is a Tennessee-based company replacing oil-based plastics in agriculture with homegrown biodegradable biopolymers made from lignin, helping farmers maintain higher yields and improve the quality of their soils.

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Site: www.growbioplastics.co/

Cowlar is a smart, non-invasive neck collar monitoring temperature, activity and behavior of each individual cow. The company’s actionable recommendations help significantly improve income on dairy farms.

Location: founded in Islamabad, Pakistan
Site: www.cowlar.com