Feature Story By Sarah McNaughton-Peterson, Senior Editor, Dakota Farmer

Congratulations to AgLaunch Farmers, LLC portfolio companies Global Neighbor, Inc. (GNI) and Seismi, two of the five recipients of a $500,000 funding round from the NSF AgTech Engine in North Dakota, as reported by Farm Progress. A panel of livestock and row crop producers and independent agronomists chose the five from almost 90 proposals.

Global Neighbor, based in Xenia, Ohio, is pioneering the use of directed energy in agriculture. Its combine-mounted Weed Seed Destroyer uses dual wavelength, nonlaser directed energy to keep weed seeds from germinating. It gives farmers a chemical-free way to fight herbicide resistant weeds without an extra pass over the field.

Seismi has developed a retrofit sensor that clips onto existing cattle ear tags. It tracks heart rate and respiratory conditions, with the ability to catch bovine respiratory disease at the earliest physiological signals, days before symptoms are visible, so producers can treat early. This technology is already being trialed in Tennessee on a beef operation and will be trialed in North Dakota on a family farm and a large commercial feedyard. 

Congratulations to both teams, and thank you to our partner, the NSF AgTech Engine.

AgLaunch Farmers, LLC is built on a farmer-centric open innovation model. Farmers don’t wait at the end of the line for new technology. They help build it. Our national network of farmers screens startups, does the due diligence, helps design the tools and tests them on working farms in real conditions. Farmers keep control of their data and share both the risk and the reward. The LLC holds a minority stake in each portfolio company, so its farmer-members own part of the companies they help build.

Learn how farmers help take startups from idea to scale: aglaunch.com/farmer-innovation-network

@Global Neighbor @NSF Agtech Engine @ Seismi @Farm Progress

Read the full Farm Progress article: farmprogress.com/technology/5-startups-receive-500-000-to-develop-ag-tech-solutions