Financial pain isn’t happening just at the gas pump; the war in Iran and the coinciding closure of the Strait of Hormuz have also sent fertilizer prices skyrocketing. In a world where every nutrient in the soil matters, Fredericton-based AgTech startup Picketa has raised $2.1 million to help farmers become more efficient at tending their crops.
Xavier Hébert-Couturier, Picketa
“It’s a very tough time to be a farmer.”
Picketa’s flagship offering, the Leaf Evaluated Nutrient System (LENS), allows farmers to perform plant tissue analysis on the spot, a process that once required weeks of waiting for a third-party laboratory. The analysis provides quick insight into how crops are absorbing and using nutrients, information that’s critical for more and more farmers looking to maximize fertilizer efficiency.
“It’s a very tough time to be a farmer, and a lot of the new [soil] chemistry is going into micronutrients and biologicals, which people don’t really know how to use, or when to use, or when to apply,” Picketa co-founder and CEO Xavier Hébert-Couturier told Betakit in an interview. “This is why the interest is so high; instead of putting on more nitrogen, the next yield gain is going to be from saving what you don’t need to apply.”
The LENS analyzes crop tissues and compares them to a global database of crop conditions gathered from thousands of plants at different growth stages, claiming it can help growers save up to 20 percent on in-season fertilizer expenditures. Its work got Pickea recognized in this year’s issue of BetaKit Most Ambitious.
The LENS got its start analyzing potatoes, but now supports corn, canola, soybeans, and wheat, which Picketa says account for a significant portion of North American crops. As it supports more crops, more farms support Picketa. The device is now in 45 agriculture retailers, has quadrupled its users in the past couple of years, and now supports more than 1,000 farms across the majority of Canada and in 16 US states, Hébert-Couturier said.
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“We got a lot of interest from across the world, really,” Hébert-Couturier said. “I hear from palm oil producers in Indonesia and wheat growers and Azerbaijan … and I’ve heard a lot for cotton as well in the southern states.”
The interest is mutual, but for now Picketa is focused on growing its presence in the places it’s already strong, like the Midwestern US and Western Canada. Hébert-Couturier said Picketa’s new, $2.1-million seed round will help his startup get its device onto more farms by increasing its LENS output up to hundreds per year. It will also help the company hire around five more sales and support staff.
The investment was led by returning investor Tall Grass Ventures, with participation from new investors BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, and Skull Diamond and Heart Capital. Other returning investors included NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures. The round brings Picketa’s total funding to date up to around $4.6 million, following a previously undisclosed $700,000 seed extension.
Hébert-Couturier said the ultimate goal is that the LENS will be just as ubiquitous as a phone for agricultural retailers and agronomists, turning every field visit into a tissue test. He added that the startup is working on supporting 20 more crop types, including onions, carrots, and celery. While supporting those palm oil producers in Indonesia may be farther down the list, at the end of the day, Hébert-Couturier will bring Picketa where the demand is.
“If people want more crops, they can partner with us, and we’ll work to add those crops,” Hébert-Couturier said. “If we have a good partner that walks in and wants to do coconuts, we’ll do coconuts.”
Feature image courtesy Picketa.